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Photo: Michael Hession

The Best Wireless Indoor Home Security Camera

Updated February 14, 2018

Your guides

Rachel Cericola

Stewart Wolpin

A Wi-Fi camera lets you monitor household activity while you’re away and can alert you to activity. For the latest update to this guide, we spent more than four months testing 14 indoor Wi-Fi home-security cameras—evaluating motion and sound sensitivity, smartphone alerts, speaker and microphone quality, app features, storage options, placement flexibility, and image quality—and found the corded version of the Logitech Circle 2 to be the best choice for most people thanks to sharp video, continuous recording, and free cloud storage.

Last updated: February 14, 2018

After testing 14 cameras, we’ve crowned a new champion, the corded version of Logitech’s Circle 2. We moved the Nest Cam Indoor into our runner-up spot and made Netgear’s Arlo Q an “Also great” pick. We’ve also added 13 models to The competition, and some notes on Canary’s newfound compatibility with Amazon Alexa devices to What to look forward to.

The Logitech Circle 2 (corded) has the best combination of features of the models we tested, including stellar 1080p video with a 180-degree field of view, continuous recording, 24 hours of free cloud storage (with the option to purchase more), smart geofencing, an easy-to-use app, and support for Alexa, HomeKit, and Google Assistant. It’s also the only model on our list that’s weatherproof, so it can double as an outdoor camera.

The Nest Cam Indoor offers some of the best 1080p images, audio, and smart-home integration we’ve seen. However, after the first 30 days, you get no free video storage—it’s basically useful only for live viewing unless you pay for a monthly or annual subscription to the Nest Aware service. And some of those useful subscription-required features come standard on our other picks.

The Netgear Arlo Q offers seven days of free storage, customizable activity zones, and a clear image. However, like a number of other cameras, the Arlo Q can’t record continuously—it must reset after each recording, resulting in short gaps in between. That makes it a little less useful for security purposes, but the perks make it perfect for keeping an eye on kids and pets.

Why you should trust us

I have written about consumer electronics for over 15 years and has tested smart-home products from remotes and security cameras to AV receivers and speakers. As a former editor for Electronic House and Big Picture Big Sound, I have written buyer’s guides for multiple consumer-electronics products and also tech articles for Wired, Woman’s Day, GeekMom, Men’s Health, and others.

Stewart Wolpin, author of a previous version of this guide, has covered technology for more than three decades. He’s written for Playboy, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, re/code, NBC Universal, CNET, Popular Science, eBay, Mashable, Stuff, Ubergizmo, Tom’s Guide, Digital Trends, Laptop, Techlicious, and many others. He’s also an elector for the Consumer Technology Association Hall of Fame and has written the inductee bios and the industry’s official history.

Who this is for

A stand-alone Wi-Fi camera can help provide some peace of mind, let you track household activity while you’re away, and, in the event of an actual break-in, alert you of the situation—and possibly help end it sooner and catch the criminal. None of the indoor cameras reviewed in this guide will actually make your home more secure, though; a home security system, such as the ones we recommend, may do a better job of that.

Wi-Fi cameras do raise privacy issues, because they let you spy on your own family—or guests—perhaps without them knowing that you’re watching them. Buying a Wi-Fi camera should be a household decision, with placement, usage, and viewing agreed on by everyone concerned. This means deciding which camera is best for you may depend on how obvious you want it to be and what it records.

How we picked

Photo: Michael Hession

We combed through hundreds of product reviews and roundups around the Web, and searched Amazon. We considered only cameras that operate over Wi-Fi, without the need for a networked video recorder; we narrowed that list based on reviews, features, and price.

If you want a camera that can record video—in other words, something that gives you more than just a live peek—you should expect to pay between $60 and $300. Although more expensive models may have more features, most of today’s indoor Wi-Fi cameras include the following features:

1080p video quality: You’ll find a few 4K cameras, but a 1080p resolution is your best bet right now because it offers sharp video that streams well over a standard Wi-Fi network. We did look at a few 720p models because of other special capabilities and/or pricing.

Wide-angle lens: A wider lens lets you see more of what’s in front of the camera, left to right—you don’t want a narrow peek at the room. Most cameras average around 130 degrees.

Night vision: This allows you to see what goes bump in the night, but know that some cameras have a shorter night-vision range than others.

Two-way talk: With a microphone and speaker, you can let intruders know help is on the way or tell your dog to get off the couch while you’re at work.

Alerts: All of the cameras we reviewed offer motion alerts, but some can alert you when they hear sound, and can even distinguish between a smoke detector and a baby crying.

Geofencing: This feature can automatically start detecting for motion when you leave a predetermined area. This way, you don’t have to remember to turn off the camera’s monitoring functions every time you come home. We also preferred models that let you disable the automatic Away option.1

Storage: Most cameras offer some type of cloud storage, whether it’s free or for a monthly fee. Local storage on a microSD card is also nice to have; just know that locally stored footage can be stolen if someone notices the camera.

Smart-home integration: Smart-home compatibility allows you to expand the product’s capabilities (either now or in the future) by linking camera functions with other smart devices. For example, you can trigger lights or thermostats when the camera detects motion.

Starting with this criteria, we compiled a list of worthy review candidates. Based on online reviews and other feedback, we added a few additional models that didn’t have all of these features, such as 1080p video, geofencing, and smart-home support, but other interesting perks. Overall, we’ve tested 26 indoor Wi-Fi cameras—15 for the initial version of the guide and 14 for the latest update (we tested some models for both iterations).

How we tested

We tried each of the cameras in multiple locations around the house, ranging from six feet from our house’s Wi-Fi router to 30 feet away. The router was connected to a Verizon FiOS network, as well as an iPhone, an iPad, and a Samsung Galaxy S6, when possible.

All of the cameras were easy to install. Each camera has its own app, which walks you through the setup process. This typically involves finding a spot for your camera, creating an account in the app, and connecting the camera to your Wi-Fi network. Many then allow you to configure the alert frequency and create activity monitoring zones, so the camera will capture motion only in designated areas.

All but two of the cameras we tested require an AC outlet, so placement will definitely be a factor. The other two use batteries, which makes placement more flexible, but includes other trade-offs that we highlight in the competition section. Wi-Fi coverage will also affect where you position a camera: If you’re looking to put a camera in a spot that doesn’t get a good Wi-Fi signal, consider upgrading your router or adding an extender or repeater. It’s a good rule of thumb that if your smartphone or laptop gets good Wi-Fi reception in the place you want to mount the camera, you probably won’t have a problem with that location.

Once the cameras were hooked up, we monitored day and night activities, including the coming and going of two adults, one child, and a dog. We looked at recording quality, recording length, and frequency of alerts. We also considered “bonus” features such as cloud storage, geofencing, customized alerts, and smart-home integration.

After testing, we sent each of our top picks (and the WyzeCam) to Bill McKinley, executive director of Information Security at The New York Times (Wirecutter’s parent company) for hack testing. (Bill’s also a self-proclaimed “paranoid infosec guy.”) He evaluated each for any outstanding security flaws, and concluded that all of our top picks (as well as the budget WyzeCam) passed basic security standards and protections. However, he did have a concern about the Arlo Q, which we discuss in that section.

The corded Logitech Circle 2 (the successor to our previous indoor Wi-Fi camera pick, the now-discontinued Logi Circle) provides some of the most detailed images, but it’s also one of the few cameras that provides continuous recording, 24 hours of free storage, two-way communication, and options for more features through a paid Circle Safe account. It’s also the only camera on our list—along with its cordless Circle 2 sibling, which we don’t recommend—that supports Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa, and can double as an outdoor camera.

It’s that perfect storm of features and support that makes the Circle 2 a standout. During our testing, this compact camera provided sharp, vivid, 1080p HD images, day or night, with digital zoom for a closer peek and a wide, 180-degree field of view. Having a wide field of view means you’re less likely to get a blind spot in whatever room you set it up.

But that continuous recording is a just as big of a deal in a security camera, and something that most cameras don’t offer. With most cameras, if motion continues beyond the maximum recording length (and most cameras do have a limit), you can miss anywhere from five seconds to five minutes while the camera “resets”—yes, one of the cameras we tested needs five minutes! The Circle 2 doesn’t record 24/7 like the Nest Cam, but it watches all the time—and will record motion as it happens until it stops. It does break long recordings into smaller clips, but you’ll get no gaps in between.

Photo: Michael Hession

Logitech’s free cloud storage—the previous 24 hours’ worth of videos are saved online—is another nice perk and may be enough for most people. However, like many of the cameras on our list, the Circle 2 has the option for additional storage through Circle Safe subscription plans. This subscription service stores 14 days of clips from one camera for $4 per month, or 31 days for $10. The 31-day plan also adds a slew of extra perks, including advanced filters and the option to focus the camera’s attention on a specific area in the room.

A compelling argument in favor of getting the Circle Safe subscription is that it adds person detection, which makes for smarter smartphone alerts—and in some cases, fewer false alerts. If the camera is pointed toward a high-traffic area, you won’t have to worry about the camera recording, or getting an alert, every time the dog walks by. (We think it’s a more valuable feature if you place the Circle 2 outside, where cars frequently pass.) Although having the subscription makes this camera smarter, it’s great that it’s not necessary, as it is with some cameras, including the Nest Cam.

Logitech’s Circle 2 can filter alerts by high activity, a specific day, or even if a person is detected.

The Logi Circle app, available for iOS and Android and as a Web app, is easy to navigate. Events are displayed on a timeline of bubbles off to the side of the screen. And if scanning through all of those events is too tedious, the app has a Day Brief feature that condenses alerts into a 30-second highlight reel. Settings also allow you to customize frequency of alerts and include a Smart Location geofencing feature, so the camera won’t be firing off alerts when you are home. The Circle 2 can also be integrated with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa, as well as Logitech Pop. This allows you to call up the camera on supported devices (such as the Echo Show and Echo Spot) and even remotely control privacy features.

The Circle 2 comes with a swivel mount that you can install outdoors, as well as inside on a shelf or table. Logitech also offers a Window Mount and a Plug Mount, which are sold separately.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Unlike most other cameras we tested, the corded Circle 2 does not have sensitivity settings for motion detection (though the cordless model does). Instead, you can filter event notifications by high activity, days, or person—but only with a paid Circle Safe subscription. Without it, you’ll get more alerts, which you can ask to receive every minute, every 15 minutes, or every 30 minutes. The subscription is more useful when using in high-traffic areas. Otherwise, you can use the Smart Location feature to disable recording when you’re home, so you won’t receive alerts every time you walk by. Just know that although the app supports multiple users, its geofencing applies to each user, so if everyone in the family has the Circle app installed, you will get notices when other people are home and walking about.

When it comes to audio and video, the Nest Cam Indoor is on a par with, or maybe even a little better than, our top pick. Its setup, app, alert capabilities, two-way communication, and video quality are all among the best of the models we tested, and the Nest Aware service gives you continuous, 24/7 recording. But its high ongoing costs make it difficult to recommend for anyone who isn’t already locked into the Nest smart-home ecosystem.

When you buy the Nest Cam, you get a 30-day trial of 24/7 continuous video recording. After that, you’re required to pay $10/month ($100/year) for Nest Aware to store and view recordings in the cloud for 10 days, or $30/month ($300/year) for 30 days of storage. (And you must pay a separate fee for each camera, though the rate is cheaper for the second and subsequent cameras.) Most other cameras offer some sort of free recording tier that continues beyond the trial period, even if storage is limited, but if you don’t subscribe to Nest Aware, you get no storage at all. The camera will still send you motion alerts, but you can see only a still image of the action, and only for up to three hours after.

Pull Quote

You have to pay at least $10 a month for Nest Aware simply to use many of the Nest Cam’s features.

With Nest Aware, you will get precise alerts. In fact, we never experienced a false alert during our testing. Also, viewing of live and recorded video is stellar, although it does require a bit of bandwidth. As with all Nest cameras, this one automatically adjusts the quality of uploaded video based on your connection. However, if your Internet connection is slow, the resulting low-quality video may defeat the purpose of having the Nest Cam Indoor, as well as a Nest Aware subscription.

With a Nest Aware subscription, the camera can tell the difference between a person and a pet, and send you notifications only when it detects a person.

Most security-camera-service subscriptions are in the same price range as Nest Aware, but what’s really annoying with the Nest Cam is that you have to pay to use features that come standard on most other cameras. If you want access to any recorded events at all, person alerts, and activity zones, as well as Nest’s “advanced algorithms” that cut down on false alerts, you’ll have to subscribe. Our top pick, and most other cameras we looked at, include some or all of these features for free.

The Nest Cam enjoys—at the moment—the widest compatibility with other smart-home devices through the Works with Nest program, which includes Philips Hue bulbs, Skybell doorbell cameras, the MyQ garage door controller, and IFTTT. But it lacks Apple HomeKit support.

The Netgear Arlo Q compares favorably with our top two picks when it comes to video and audio quality, alert types, two-way communication, and customization flexibility. The Logi and Nest cameras deliver slightly better image quality, but the differences should be barely noticeable to most people. Perhaps most important, the Arlo Q has the lowest ongoing costs of the three. However, the Circle 2 and Nest Cam can record continuously, with no gaps in between recorded clips; the Arlo Q can’t.

The Arlo Q can be set to record 15-, 60-, or 120-second clips, or you can opt to “record until activity stops,” which really means up to five minutes. Like many of the cameras on our list, if motion continues beyond the selected limit, the Netgear Arlo Q has to reset its sensors and then restart recording, which will leave gaps between recordings. In our testing, those gaps were roughly 10 to 30 seconds long. The inconsistency in the gaps was troubling, but we found the best results with the “record until motion stops” setting and activity under two minutes. You may not care about missing the cat jumping from the counter to the table, but if you’re considering one of these cameras for security purposes, this recording gap may be more concerning.

That potential flaw aside, the Arlo presented sharp and colorful 130-degree video and still images, in both bright and dim light, even when zoomed in (the camera has 8x digital zoom). Night mode produced exceptionally crisp images, but they didn’t look as bright as the Logitech’s.

Unlike the outdoor Arlo cameras, the Arlo Q doesn’t require the company’s Base Station; it connects directly to any Wi-Fi network. But you can link the Q with other Arlo indoor and outdoor cameras in the Arlo app, which is available for iOS, Android, and FireOS, and in any Web browser. Aside from easy access to recordings, the app allows you to set activity zones, as well as adjust sensitivity so you’re not getting alerts every two minutes.

One concern we have with the Arlo Q is that according to Bill McKinley, executive director of Information Security at The New York Times (Wirecutter’s parent company), Netgear has yet to upgrade the Arlo Q’s firmware to mitigate the KRACK vulnerability. That said, “It poses minimal threat, as all video feeds are encrypted with TLS 1.2,” he said. However, he also said, “That’s not to say that Netgear shouldn’t fix it.” He added that he was able to intercept the login request through the Arlo app when in proximity to the device, and he had a few issues with geofencing disappearing from the device. “These quirks, minor vulnerabilities, and their support left me feeling like I had a great piece of hardware with a dev and support team that needs work.”

The Arlo Q is compatible with Alexa, IFTTT, SmartThings, Wink, and Stringify. Also, if the included seven days of free storage isn’t enough, Netgear offers extended plans starting at $10 per month or $100 per year, which includes 30 days of recording for up to 10 cameras. The company also offers continuous video recording (CVR), which provides 24/7 recording starting at $100 per year per camera.

What to look forward to

In February 2018, WyzeLabs released the WyzeCam 2, along with a firmware update for the original WyzeCam that will enable Alexa and IFTTT compatibility. The new version of the WyzeCam has these same integrations already built in, and, according to the company, also comes with improved audio and video clarity, while keeping the same affordable price. We thought the original WyzeCam was okay but not great for the price. We’ll see if the WyzeCam 2 improves on that once we’ve had a chance to test it ourselves.

The SENS8started shipping as we prepared this update for publication; we look forward to checking it out soon. This camera can stream 1080p video and has local storage and unlimited cloud storage via an API connection to Dropbox. It also features a 95 dB+ alarm, battery backup, temperature sensors, and the ability to contact police through the app.

The Hive View debuted in January 2018 for $200. This cord-free 1080p camera features motion, person, and sound detection, as well as 24 hours of free storage. You can upgrade the latter to 30 days for $6 per month.

Toshiba has released the Symbio, a 1080p Wi-Fi camera that packs in an Alexa-enabled smart speaker, a sound detector, and a smart-home hub that supports both Z-Wave and ZigBee. We look forward to seeing if those premiums are worth the Symbio’s $250 price tag.

Canary has started selling the $100 Canary View, a 1080p indoor camera that promises intelligent alerts, automatic arming/disarming, and one-click access to emergency services. Two-way Canary Talk is also available on the unit via a paid subscription. Along with all Canary cameras, as of February 2018, the View works with any Amazon Alexa device that has a screen, including the Echo Spot and most Fire TVs.

We also look forward to checking out the Lighthouse, a 1080p Wi-Fi camera that includes facial recognition and the capability to use voice commands to weed out important events. At the time of publication of this update, the company hadn’t announced a firm release date, but was planning to bundle the camera with the Lighthouse Intelligence AI service. One device with one year of service will be $400; you can also purchase it with three years of service for $500 or five years for $600.

The latest Yi Smart Home Camera promises new artificial-intelligence features, as well as pan/tilt/zoom, 360-degree panning, and options for local and cloud storage. Pricing has yet to be announced.

D-Link will start selling the DCS-8300LH in Q2 2018. This compact 1080p camera promises local and cloud storage, a wide-angle lens, and integration with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. A release date and pricing have yet to be announced.

When released in early 2018, the recently announced Angee will be the most expensive indoor Wi-Fi camera yet. However, that $350 price tag includes six motion-tracking sensors, internal storage, voice control, battery backup, and 360-degree rotation that allows it to turn around and face a wall when disarmed. It also comes with a separate Bluetooth door sensor, which can arm and disarm the system based on your location.

The competition

Although it’s the company’s first entry into home security, the Amazon Cloud Cam shows a lot of promise. Like our top two picks, it doesn’t leave gaps in between recordings, so you never miss a minute of action. It also includes 24 hours of free video storage, with the option to purchase more; that subscription plan is the cheapest we found, and includes person detection and activity. What really kept it from snagging one of our top spots is the fact that Cloud Cam’s image isn’t as sharp as those from our picks. Also, it disconnected from our Wi-Fi network several times during testing (something that wasn’t an issue with most of the other cameras).

Just a few minor things kept the TP-Link KC120 Kasa Cam out of our top spots. It records smoothly and consecutively for up to three minutes, but it leaves large gaps—around 20 to 25 seconds—between recordings. Also, even though TP-Link offers 24 hours of free storage, the company doesn’t offer a long-term storage option. (It’s supposedly coming.) This model also doesn’t offer geofencing, so you’ll need to manually turn off the camera unless you want alerts at home. Otherwise, it delivers one of the better day/night 1080p images and is impressive for the company’s first camera effort.

There’s a lot to love about the Blink camera, including its compact design, free storage, and overall price. It’s also easy to place, because it promises up to two years of use on two AA batteries. However, to conserve that battery power, recordings max out at 10 seconds, with the system leaving a gap between 12 and 35 seconds between clips. Also, it doesn’t give you geofencing or two-way communication, and its 720p image was a bit fuzzy in darker areas.

Honeywell’s Lyric C2 offers clear 1080p images in daylight, but nighttime shots were fuzzier than those from some of the other models on our list. Recordings max out at 30 seconds, with gaps of five to 10 seconds in between. Recordings are stored locally to a microSD card or to free, 24-hour storage in the cloud; Honeywell has yet to offer long-term storage options. The dealbreaker, however, was that we had to reload the app three times during testing, and it still had regular problems connecting to some of our recordings.

With an MSRP of $300, the Nest Cam IQ Indoor is the most expensive model on our list. Like our upgrade pick, it needs the Nest Aware subscription for basic features like recording and storing video. However, that subscription does add Familiar Face alerts, which can distinguish between family members and strangers. It’s a cool feature, but not worth the extra cost, as it often asks you about identified faces anyway. And if you have it placed within view of a TV, you can expect 100+ alerts a day, asking you to identify unfamiliar, famous faces. And because this camera records 4K video, it soaks up extra bandwidth.

Like our top pick, the Logitech Circle 2 (Cordless) is designed for use indoors and outside. It has the same 1080p video, 24 hours of free storage, 180-degree field of view, and option for additional features through Circle Safe. Because it runs off battery, it’s easier to place, but that advantage comes with other issues, including a wait (up to 30 seconds) to connect to a live peek, video buffering, and a reset function that left gaps of up to 90 seconds between videos.

The Canary offers 24 hours of free storage (with more available), above-average video and still-photo quality, a 90-decibel siren, an emergency call option on the Watch Live screen, and a night mode. As of February 2018, Canary cameras can be synced to Amazon Alexa devices with screens, such as the Echo Spot and most Fire TVs. The company also says that the camera will support person detection in early 2018. But the Canary is one of the largest cameras we tested, which makes it a bit more obvious and may limit where you can stash it. Also, two-way communication is available only with a paid Canary Membership.

We loved the Netatmo Welcome’s ability to recognize faces and pets, free storage options, and HomeKit support. But the constant need to confirm otherwise already identified faces got a bit grating, and the camera kept defaulting to a low-resolution video setting to compensate for what we figured was a shaky Wi-Fi connection (though this wasn’t an issue with any other camera, and we tried the Welcome on multiple networks). It also had neither digital zoom (that we could locate) nor push-to-talk capability.

The Yi 1080p Home Camera is an affordable camera that delivers clear, 1080p images. The Yi provides notifications for motion, people, sound, gestures, and crying babies (though we got a lot of baby-crying alerts while watching non-baby TV programs). What it doesn’t offer is much storage. Clips are recorded to a microSD card as six-second clips, with three-minute gaps between them. You can opt for longer recordings in the cloud, but it’s confusing, it’s available only with payment through PayPal, and it adds $65 to $150 per year to the cost of an otherwise budget camera.

The WyzeCam has generated a ton of buzz and sales because of its low price—just remember the old adage that you get what you pay for. Sure, the teeny camera offers live viewing, a decent 1080p image by day and night, smoke and CO alarms, two-way talk, a microSD card slot, and 14 days of free cloud storage. However, clips are a mere 14 seconds each and are captured only every five minutes, which means you’re going to miss pretty much everything.

D-Link’s Omna 180 Cam HD works with HomeKit and delivers 180 degrees of 1080p images, but video didn’t look as good at night as that from some of the other models on our list. When motion occurs, recordings max out at 30 seconds, with a retrigger time that can be customized between 30 seconds and five minutes. Because it has a fixed design, you can’t angle the Omna toward an exact area. Oddly, this camera doesn’t use a D-Link app, which means that it can’t be tied in with other D-Link products; the app it does use is confusing, specifically when trying to delete footage. The camera also doesn’t have geofencing or cloud storage, relying on microSD cards up to 128 GB.

The inexpensive SimpleHome Pan & Tilt lets you scan around a room rather than be limited to only what the camera is pointed at. It can also zoom up to 18x with decent clarity, but it required multiple frustrating pairing attempts and, even set to its lowest sensitivity level, delivered numerous unnecessary alerts every minute.

The super-compact D-Link DCS-8000LH delivers clear 720p images day and night, but currently has no storage options—local or off-site. It’s basically only good for live viewing, but D-Link said that may change in 2018.

Reolink claims that the C1 Pro can deliver 1440p video, which makes it the highest-resolution camera on our list. However, it routinely downgraded the image, disconnected from the network, and even displayed pink and green lines across the screen—even when high-bandwidth cameras like the Nest played just fine on our Wi-Fi network.

Setting up Belkin’s Wemo NetCam HD+ was painful; it simply wouldn’t find our 2.4 GHz network. Also, videos and photos were of low quality with a brownish-yellowish tint, it has no digital zoom, and after a 30-day free trial of the company’s iSecurity+ service, you have to pay for motion-detection notification, automatic video recording, and saving photos.

We liked the video quality of the Samsung SmartCam, but its app is confusing, it required multiple passwords in a specific format, its speaker was barely audible, and we found upgrading the camera’s firmware impossible.

The Foscam C2 delivered top-notch video and audio quality and includes a microSD card slot, but took us several attempts to successfully connect it to our network. It requires multiple passwords to access the camera and the footage, and even though we turned the motion and sound detection off, we continued to get alerts.

Footnotes

If you have geofencing and you intend to use the camera mostly as a security device, then every member or your household needs to have the camera’s app installed on their smartphones as well so the camera knows if anyone or no one is home. If you have small kids and a nanny, you’ll need to be able to manually put the camera into Home mode even if you’re away so you aren’t constantly pestered by alerts. But some models don’t make it easy to manually switch to Home, some not at all—it’s their way or get ready to be peppered by unwanted motion notifications.

Dropcam hardware and service are both too pricey. Folks with low broadband caps could run into trouble with Dropcam’s implementation. Unfortunately, the lower priced cameras (like Foscam and Dlink) aren’t as comfortable for novices to operate. This space is not mature yet, but my money is on D-Link.

By the by, the article has an error – Logitech’s cameras do support Mac OS X these days. However, that was one of the units Logitech was looking to sell or shutdown, so the recommendation to avoid is probably reasonable anyway.

I own or have possessed the original Dropcam, a newer D-Link model, two Logitech models, and two Foscam models.

I should also add that the D-Link is not Java-only – it will try to use Java by default when hitting the web UI. But the 1150 camera itself is provides H.264 software that can be downloaded and installed onto a computer – that’s what I use (and obviously that’s what the D-Link mobile apps use for viewing).

Peter

Dave, we picked the best camera for most people. You of all people are not most people.

It’s true I’m not most people. And, for those who require archiving and are OK with Dropcams fees and bandwidth requirements, it probably is the simplest and most effective solution (without going thru an ADT, AT&T, etc). However, it is worth pointing out that Logitech is Mac-compatible and D-Link doesn’t require Java.

For me personally, as someone technical and who does not require archiving, I’d rather have two cameras with email image alert capabilities and live monitoring (Foscam, Dlink) for the price of a single Dropcam. The Foscams are big and ugly, but I do find utility in the ability to remotely pan and tilt them.

LPM

I am looking for a camera to use in second home so I can periodically see the place. I would like it to wirelessly connect to internet, view remotely and not have have a monthly service contract. Which do you recommend?

Rovio

How about the WowWee Ravio webcam robot? That would be a great way to monitor around the house..You don’t need two cameras.I am thinking about this system,are they any good?

It depends what you’re trying to do and what’s important. I like the look of the Dlink hw & sw better. But Foscam’s motion detection and email are more reliable – that’s been more important for me.

Nick Smith

I was disappointed that you didn’t even mention VueZone. It is not as feature rich, sure, but it is easy to use, is completely wireless, and does what it says it does.Depending on what you need and your expectations, it is a worthy alternative.

Yeah, VueZone (now owned by Netgear) is especially interesting as it’s battery powered for way more flexible placement (including an outdoor enclosure). Of course, the flip side is those batteries need to be replaced. Also the required hub is kind of annoying, but no different than Sonos, Hue, etc in that regard.

Nathan Edwards

Updated the post to mention why we didn’t pick the VueZone. Thanks for pointing it out!

Boyd Petersen

Vuezone sucks compared to Dropcam. I have had both and they don’t even come close. I had tons of problems with Vuezone-mostly the constant buffering. I got so frustrated with my 2 vuezone cameras I started looking for an alternative and that’s how I discovered drop cam. I now have 7 drop cams.

John Bernstein

The Logitech cameras do work with Mac OS X, and also work with an iOS app. Since the Logitech cameras support RTSP:// you can get to the live feeds and use them with any number of security camera software as an alternative to using their $ service. Should Logitech discontinue their service, you can still utilize their standards based cameras.

Both Synology and Netgear offer DVR services for their NAS boxes. Both of these will work with most IP cameras, especially if they support ONVIF of RTSP.

Nathan Edwards

Updated the post to mention these, referencing your comment. While we agree these are interesting alternatives, they all require a lot more infrastructure than the Dropcam (a PC, a NAS), which many people don’t have, and so they don’t challenge our main pick. We may do a more advanced guide, like we did for storage, for people who want more flexible setups. Thank you for your input!

Gary Tessman

Logitech cameras were far superior to dropcam and you didn’t have to pay to watch your own recordings through some cloud. Logitech used dropbox if you wanted remote viewing of video or you can pay the subscription for around $75 a year if you wanted in-app viewing instead of dropbox and wanted remote PTZ ability. Logitech supported XMPP protocol, and could be remotely controlled this way with event notification and motion zones. Its a shame that Logitech shut this down and dropcam is taking off, as dropcam is a far inferior camera.

I’m wild about Dropcams. My brother’s regular and latest model, enable me to watch and interact with him in his computer shop 2,000 miles away daily and he can keep an eye on me via my Dropcam. BUT, we also both have old Axis webcams because, the Dropcams lose time over the day – several minutes. They are not real time. (My brother’s customers will wave at me via Dropcam and by the time I hear them say hi and I wave back, they have lost interest, said goodbye and are in their cars on the way home.)

The IP webcams (Axis in this case) are, indeed, way fiddly to get set up but do provide up to the second transmission.

charredwater

Did you look at Piper (getpiper.com)? The Piper seems to have many of the same attributes as the Dropcam.

Patrick Haney

The Piper looks great except that it has zero night vision capabilities, which is a huge miss on their part. Probably a deal breaker for most consumers.

PJ

I bought a piper few days back and it works amazing. its true DIY and app on my iphone works amazing. It provides FREE cloud recording and live viewing. But Yes, the night vision is a serious drawback.

Yoni Mazuz

What if I want to record to local storage and also have online archives? I’m looking into a 2–3 camera setup for my business. I’m kind of tempted to go with a closed circuit DVR setup to save on the service fees for cloud-based archiving, but then I could lose all my data in the event of fire or a real motivated burglar. Seems like it’d be nice to go redundant by storing as much as I could fit on a local hard drive while also keeping a few days in the cloud. Assuming I’m willing to deal with some fiddly configuration, are there cameras that make this possible? Or is it just not even worth the effort?

JBritton

The Foscam 8910W works amazingly well. I use it as a baby monitor in conjunction with a $5 app in the Apple store. So for about $75 I have a baby monitor setup that costs ~$200 if I buy it already put together.

If you can figure out port forwarding, the Foscam is going to be the best one for you. If port forwarding sounds like Greek, you should probably get the Dropcam.

gyamashita

same here. use the 8910 for my little one and it’s awesome. my mom can “babysit” him while sleeping by just monitoring the Foscam app on her ipad. using dynamic DNS, we can monitor the little one asleep even when the wife and i are out on the town (thanks, grandma!)

8910 is not as good as the dropcam spec for spec, but if you don’t need HD, cloud recording, and other perks, the 8910 could work for you

JBritton

I looked at the Dropcam and didn’t like that the constant uploading of video to the cloud would make me trigger AT&T’s data cap a lot faster. For baby monitoring you don’t need recording and offsite storage that the cloud provides, really just need a real time feed.

MagicJewball

The first Amazon review (which has many comments agreeing) scared me off from this model. I ended up with the HooToo HT-IP210F. It was 1/3 the cost of the DropCam and emails me when it detects motion (I have it pointed out the front window of my vacation home). It’s also fabulous for gazing at when I have “Calgon, take me away” moments in my day. 🙂

The picture is super clear and a I also use a $5 app to view it. I set up the port forwarding using a tutorial that I found with a quick Google search. While I agree that DropCam may be the best choice for most, it’s sad that they need to pay such a premium for the convenience.

powdereddonuts

Or buy your tech friend a case of beer to help you out. It’s a lot cheaper and works just as well.

tbullers

You guys always do a great job with your reviews, and this review is not different, except that you missed discussing a significant capability. It’s the ability to store and control your own data. With this device you must send the footage out to the company’s storage service. When their service is hacked the video footage of your home is the property of the Internet. Also who wants to be obligated to pay a monthly after buying this device? The monthly fees will dwarf the purchase price in a short amount of time.

In general you did a great job of reviewing the product and I agree with your technical assessment but I think it was an omission to not give fuller consideration to these two other points.

I am going to go research a product that will work for me.

Thanks.

Michael Zhao

We actually did about this in the “flaws but not dealbreakers” section, as well as the “what if I want more” section. Sounds like you want more 😉

Boyd Petersen

I actually like the cloud recording feature but your right they could give an option to save to your own drive but they need to make money so I understand why they do it. Otherwise they would have to sell the camera for more.

Tim

I would gladly pay a hundred or even two hundred dollars more fora camera that didn’t tether me to a paid recording service plan that potentially gives access to my video stream to dropcam employees or hackers.

Somebody is going to come up with the exact same hardware/feature combination but let it record to the local/cloud storage of your choice.
Dropbox, Amazon Cloud, Networked Hard drive, etc.
You just have to wait a few months for someone to exploit that niche.

Tim

OH don’t worry, every employee of dropcam that has access to the video being stored on their servers would never watch you undress. Their morals won’t allow it.

Hey guys, thanks so much for including HomeMonitor – we’ve actually released a HD version of our camera a few weeks ago, and its at a better price than our original Indoor. We’ve also improved our apps, including support for multiple platforms like PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and even Roku streaming players.

We’d love for you guys to take another look at our system, so please get in touch with us if you want us to send one over! http://www.homemonitor.me

peter

find me on twitter and shoot me a note. thanks.

Eric Arnold

If you do another round of comparisons please consider the Astak Mole. I used it for internal home security for a while and it did everything reasonably well, using Yoics for a free service. It was easy enough to set up, though not 100% pain free. Getting motion detection refined has a learning curve and is still subject to false triggers from, say, car headlights. One note for people who know as little as I did before, lol : You cannot use built-in IR lights through a typical screen window at night. The reflected light completely washes out the image.

Alex

You did not mention Lorex and their line of Ping cameras. I purchased an LNC104 model close to a year ago; although not HD, their 200 line has 720p HD. Set up was incredibly easy, without the need to configure port-forwarding or firewall. Seems to never go down unless my network is down. Works very well for monitoring our little one.

evilpete

Axis is known for higher end security cams but they have lower end cams.

these cameras have most of the features of the higher in cameras in addition to a well documented programming API

I have 7 drop cams and just ordered 2 of the pros’ I haven only tried one other camera and that is the net gear vue. The drop cam is just awesome. Just love it. Wish they would get the picture quality better on these things though but that’s across all cameras. Setup is sooooo easy and works like a charm. The cloud recording is great as well. There is pretty much no buffering or lag-just a nice constant video stream which is refreshing. The net gear was always buffering. Glad to see this is one of the top camera’s-I can see why.

Boyd Petersen

I feel like this article is spot on. When comparing everything and overall the drop cam really is the best choice. Now if you have more technical experience and want to store on your own drive then there are probably better alternatives but overall drop cam is the best for the reasons stated above. I have 7 of the suckers and just love them. The setup is just so simple and the app is great. I love the cloud recording as well. Night vision works like a charm. The 2 way sound is awesome. The sound quality is superb on the pro. I wish the pic quality was better on cameras in general but it’s not bad by any means. It’s just a limitation of the bandwidth more than the camera.

A cheap wireless informatics camera may be purchased direct from the manufacturer of the devices. Most corporations have websites wherever they sell a number of their things. they’re going to have things that are refurbished offered on these sites for a far lower cost than things that square measure fresh. that’s as a result of the refurbished item has already been purchased and came as defective. They take the defective item and repair it so provide to sell it at a reduced value. on-line could be a great way to search out a budget wireless informatics camera.

Begoña Iñarritu

Thanks A LOT for the info. But i still have doubt, im new in this stuff.
I am here because I want to document bats 24hbehavior in a cave so I was thinking
in a wireless camara with night vision because I cannot enter to the cave
whenever I want and I could control it outside (~400m of distance). But with
these camaras can I store the info in my computer? Should I buy a router or a Ethernet
cable for start up the system?

Thanks you, greetings from Mexico.

Mit

Do you live near a cave because that would be very cool. You could always get a GoPro with night vision lenses and either additional battery packs or run a power line through. If you do a lot of documenting you’d get a lot of use of a GoPro!

tedder42

I used to run a pile of cams wired to a server. I then replaced ’em with IP cams. I still really like using Motion with a local server but it’s more work. It’s too bad Dropcam doesn’t have outdoor enclosures.

hey tedder42, if you’re still interested I have had some experience with the enclosures from http://www.dropcases.com and so far they are working really well

Dignan17

FIrst: I don’t own any IP cams, so I have no skin in this game. But I wanted to address what I consider to be a spurious argument against Foscam in this article. You mention this giant security flaw that “users may not be aware of!” and then say the flaw is that the default username is “admin?” So? Are you also scaring people away from nearly every router on the market? Why is it a big deal that a device has a default administrator username, particularly one that’s on your own network?

Please let me know if I’m not understanding you here, because I’m rather shocked. Actually, I consider it offensive that you’re scaring people off of a product for this reason, especially employing techno-panic like “could allow unauthorized individuals to have a peek at what your camera is seeing.” Yeah, if those “unauthorized individuals” are people who you gave your WiFi password to or are plugged directly into your network. Presumably you know those people. And if you’re worried about this, the answer is simple: password protect that admin account!

You wrote that the FI8910W has low resolution and a narrow viewing angle. That’s fair, and it’s a valid reason to recommend an alternative. BUT…you go on to say that this limited viewing angle means that you would need two Foscam cameras to get the coverage a Dropcam can get. You do understand that the FI8910W is a pan and tilt camera, right? Anything you would use to view it would allow you to move the camera around. This leads me to believe that either you did extremely little research on Dropcam competitors, or you purposefully obfuscated the facts to make it sound like a Dropcam competitor would be such a ridiculous alternative.

Speaking of competitors, why did you even single in on the FI8910W? The FI9821W is the 720p H.264 upgrade of the FI8910W. Granted, that’s still not as high a resolution as the Dropcam Pro, and it still has a limited viewing angle of 70 degrees, but the FI9821W also costs $90 less and gives you pan/tilt. Even if you didn’t consider this to be better than the Dropcam for your readers, I find it suspicious that you purposefully targeted an older model for your comparison.

Just to make it perfectly clear, I’m not some sort of Foscam fanboy. I don’t have one and I’m looking at getting far nicer cameras than those (and the Dropcam), but this review really bothered me and I had to say something about it. Thanks for your time.

This is most certainly not a paid advertisement, but you knew that. I took the liberty of looking at your overall comment history and it seems that you like to troll & try to make trouble for the hell of it (PS LOVED the “Golf Cart One” cracks. So original). I’ll just go ahead and let you know that you are no longer welcome to comment here. Thx.

I felt slightly dissed here as I’ve done some IP/CCTV work in my day and it seemed ‘drop’cam was just that drop it. Yes it’s easy and made for the end user experience, per se’ the iPhone or any (i)Product for that matter.

But to be honest ACTi, Axis, D-Link, and Trend Net are catching up, if not surpassed the DC (DropCam). What is missing here is the monthly price to use the offsite recording capability, and RT*M Read The ******** Manual bit. Hint: Who doesn’t know a moonlighting IT junkie?

For the price it takes for that subscription, figuring the life of the camera a fairly proficient home DVR can be built (or paid to be built). In fact a relatively decent home made DVR w/plenty of redundant storage OS and all + any third party DVR software of your choice could pay for itself in under 3 years. Adding more cameras becomes more lucrative.

Oh, I suppose the ‘golf cart one’ comments are a little interesting but that’s why I leave things ‘open(ish)’. Also I failed to note that this was a rather dated post (Feb this year).

The clashing of opinion here is my take on DIY vs ??? I guess problem solving ‘let someone else do it for my hard earned cash’ mentality. –out

Hi, thanks for writing. Your concerns are just as valid as ours are so I’d like to address them. I think your first point is a good one and I’ll bring that up with the author.

But as for your second, that’s not really a proper refutation of the point presented. Yes, you can pan with the Foscam. But, if you’re looking at using this thing with a DVR system (to the cloud or otherwise), unless you’re setting it up to pan constantly, there’s going to be more blind spots with the Foscam than the Dropcam. If you’re just checking in on your pet every once in a while and can pan around to find them, no big deal. But if you want to have a record of everything going on in the room, you’d need 2 cameras to get the full picture. Also, the image quality just isn’t comparable. Not only will you see “more” with the Dropcam vs the Foscam, it will be easier to see.

Dignan17

Ok, I’ll concede there. The viewing angle is much better on the Dropcam, although the pan feature isn’t ever mentioned in the article, so the reader doesn’t even get a chance to decide for themselves which feature is more important to them.

And I have one more issue to raise: what bitrate does Dropcam record at? From what I can tell, there’s no real way of telling, and the fact that Dropcam can only record to the cloud means that you’re limited by your upstream bandwidth AND what Dropcam will support. My guess is that it’s something pretty low. I thought we were past the point where we merely looked at the magical 720/1080p number and instead also considered the bitrate in our quality calculations.

Another important feature left out of the Foscam “review” was that the FI9821W is capable of recording to onboard storage in addition to the network.

BTW, since writing this I purchased both a Foscam FI9821W and a Hikvision bullet camera.

The Foscam does have a limited viewing angle, but that’s not a problem for my use case as a baby monitor.

The Hikvision camera I purchased blows Foscam and Dropcam out of the water in terms of sheer image quality. Neither company comes close to matching the 3MP sensor on the Hikvision. The downside is that it’s definitely not a product for the average consumer and isn’t as flexible with installation.

Anyway, I still take major issues with this Dropcam review. What I should have stressed was that I wouldn’t have had any problems with the review if the biggest competitor to Dropcam hadn’t been so thoroughly misrepresented.

peter

Hey there! I’m the author of this particular story and I just wanted to address the security portion of your comment.

It appears as though you misunderstood the issue at hand. The issue with the Foscam is one that could be easily glossed over by many consumers.

“Our team did detailed research on this issue and found the reasons are:
a. Some of our customers are still using the default username and password.
b. Username and password is too simple and easy to crack.
c. Some of the cameras are still using the old firmware and have not upgrade into the latest version.”

The main issue when compared to competitors like the Dropcam or even the Closeli from Arcsoft that we’re currently testing is that each of them requires you to set up an account when setting the camera up, rather than using default login credentials. This forces you into a certain level of security that the Foscam currently doesn’t offer out of the box.

And to clarify, “hackers” don’t need to be on the same network as any Foscam camera to be “hacked”. The Shodan search engine, for example, exposes connected devices and anyone is able to find listed Foscam cameras. On top of that our picks don’t require users to seek out firmware updates the way Foscam requires its users to do. Most of that is done through the accompanying mobile apps.

The next round for this particular category will include more advanced versions. This one was focused for the non-technical, amateur crowd.

Can anyone recommend an equivalent to the dropcam pro that offers the same features but stores footage (motion only) to a PC on the same LAN?

Forlio

Ubiquity makes a nice system if your willing to run some wires through your house or office.

Tim

There is a foscam that has actually better available resolution and offers both cloud or flash card recording, or to a pc for less money. You can also pan and tilt it. Its not quite as slick looking, but it has far more functionality for less money..

I have tried this dropcam camera and I have to say that although it’s an easy to install medium quality IP camera but it lacks many features of professional IP cameras. If you are looking for a high performance IP camera with a small form factor I recommend RedLeaf DF2011 mini dome camera: (http://redleafsecurity.net/product.php?product=RLC-DF2011)
it has a 2megapixel resolution with unbelievable quality and superior low light performance. Axis M30 series are another option but RedLeaf has a higher performance/price ration than Axis.

After a bit of research and viewing sample video footage on youtube, my conclusion is that there are several other cameras that offer at least as good image quality for not more money, such as the Foscam FI9831W (with a higher, 960p resolution)

The strong point of the Dropcam is that it is much simpler to set-up, which is of course a major point for most people. However if you have some basic tech knowledge, more “conventional” cameras are not that difficult to setup, especially when it comes to viewing within your home network (viewing over the internet can indeed be more complicated under certain circumstances).

The wide field of view is also a good thing but other cameras offer Pan and Tilt and sometimes real optical zoom (e.g. Foscam FI9826W)

Beyond these two points, the fact that the Dropcam operates just by using the services of a single company is a major con because: (1) You have to keep paying to get anything more than the most basic service, (2) You can only use the software of that one company, other options use open standards and allow you to use them with a variety of 3rd party software (3) If the company goes down your camera will effectively stop working.

And because Dropcam wants to force you to use their services, what your camera records must first be uploaded to their servers and then be downloaded to your device even if you and the camera are on the same home network!! The article mentions about the possibility of hitting your data limit, but this is not the only issue. This “upload then download” introduces unnecessary lag in the video (e.g. your baby cries now, you see it crying 3 seconds later) and your internet connection can affect the quality of the video, more so if your internet connection is not fast enough at all times.

[ Smiles ] Honestly, I know nothing about those IP cameras; so I will have to take your word for it!

Forlio

You guys totally skipped Ubiquity’s lineup of cameras + MiFi and a whole slew of awesomeness that company has created. I guess that’s more of a business system, but either way they rock. Personally I use the original Dropcam’s around my whole house and they are so easy to setup. I love the fact that I can switch between my ipad, android and home computer to keep tabs on everything while i am away. Plus I can talk to visitors if needed.

Tim

The ubiquity system is not for the average homeowner to set up themselves though. it takes some technical saavy. Their mesh networks are great too though.

Peter Rathbone

Umm… Wireless? What do you call that thing that hangs out of the camera? Sure looks like a wire to me…

We found the communication with our dropcam pro to be less than ideal. we only use it to monitor our animals while away, but we have noticed severe lag in the video and audio at times. For instance you might say “hey buddy” to your dog when he is close by…. a minute or two later while watching the video stream you hear yourself say “hey buddy” in the video feed. Its not real time or live by any means. So the commercial where the person is watching a burglar and warning him about a spider on his shoulder is very inaccurate if not entirely misleading in my opinion. The dropcam could be great, because its easy to set up and has good quality video but we found the cloud recording service be less than completely reliable and stable. Its their effort to force you into a cloud based paid recording service that hampers this product from being great. I would easily pay a couple hundred more for the same product that enabled me to capture my own video on my own recording device, whether that was a network drive, pc, or flash drive.

Chip

Sorry if I missed this in the article, but can you use third party software with this camera? I have Tincam now and use this to monitor activity on another camera and store images and it can handle more than one camera. I am hoping that with this software I could archive to my network and not have to worry about the cloud factor and cost….

I’ve alraedy tried this awesome camera, however, I was testing it not only with it’s official program. As usual with the program which is delivered with the camera everything works perfectly and when you try to do it in another surveillance program there is no success. So I tried it in Xeoma and was pretty surprised the camera was autodetected in several seconds, that’s pretty great.

powdereddonuts

Why buy cameras that require you to pay a monthly fee when you can set up your own cloud system?

Poum32

The bandwidth use of most of these cameras means many people won’t be able to use them.
I also don’t understand the need to be able to remotely view what’s happening at your house: security system are supposed to alarm you of an intrusion, they are not nanny cams.

At home we have a camera with no cloud storage, it saves any movies it records (based on an integrated infrared movement sensor, not dumb image analysis that freaks out every time there is a cloud) to a 75$ NAS I already had and that is synced in real time to a cloud storage service which I already had (and has free plans which would be sufficient anyway). A few frames are also sent by email.
Cost per month: 0. False alarms due to the weather: 0. Influence on my bandwidth and D/L cap: 0…
It’s a bit DIY, but for our small apartment, it’s a perfect security system.
At my parents I setup a Ninjabox with infrared sensors, switches and cameras, as it was some time before off-the-shelf solutions started to appear (Canary, Piper).

Speaking of Piper and Canary, could you make an article about these and compare them to the Dropcam HD + sensors ?

Chris K

I am currently using an older Logitech c270 720p webcam as a motion detection camera. It is connected to an always running laptop which sends the captured .wmv video to my Google drive account. This is good enough for me. I can keep tabs on it throughout the day to see if anyone is coming in my house while I’m gone. I wish I had a way to get alerts when a new file is added to the Drive folder or some other type of alerts. I have found a couple of third-party programs that offer alerts and I’m going to try it out tonight. This is a decent solution for me, and obviously, a wider camera angle and live viewing would be nice, but not really necessary in my case. However, when in motion detection mode, the camera will only record in 800×600 resolution using the Logitech software. I’m really hoping these third party options can use the full 720p.

I like the Dropcam pro recommendation, but at $200, unless you are just really paranoid, it’s a little bit overkill both on price and features. It would be great for a home office or something though.

I would really love to find a compact, outdoor camera solution under $100 with a similar feature-set to my logitech cam. Live viewing with this one would be ideal.

cgshaq

i would love some local recording recommendations because of bandwidth concerns.

“Samsung’s $189 SmartCam HD Pro matches DropCam Pro nearly feature for feature in many areas (1080p video, easy set-up, useful app features) and surpasses it in one area: local storage thanks to an SD card slot. But the SmartCam is also heavier, bulkier, and CNET says the video is just not as crisp. And while the SmartCam HD Pro’s 128-degree viewing angle might seem close enough to Dropcam Pro’s 130-degree viewing angle, CNET reports that there’s “a pretty noticeable difference between the two when you’re watching live footage on the app.” For $10 more, we say just go with Dropcam Pro.”

& this

What if I want more?

There are many ways of doing that, but they require a lot more setup and fussing on the part of the user to get it up and running. We may look into options that enable localized storage, etc in a future guide if we get enough requests, but the bottom line is that for the time being, you will not find a simpler setup with anywhere near as good image quality as Dropcam without investing a lot more money and time to make it happen.

I use Blue Iris software and am already setup to view cameras on my Android phone. If the Dropcam doesn’t work with Blue Iris, then my dog records video just as well. There is no way I will pay a monthly fee for recording video and I will never buy into a closed system (thus I’m an Android user, not Apple). I found some of the other links useful, but am still having trouble finding a good 1080p outdoor wireless camera. Perhaps in 2015…

I know we’ll be refreshing this guide at some point. Waterproof/outdoor might be something we touch on – but weatherproof is tough (snow/freezing/cold/heat). Do you subscribe to our newsletter by chance?

Carla Smith

Hi Madness, I found a solution the other day, you can purchase a Dropcam and now use it outdoor with some accessoires called Dropcases. I hope it helped you!

Madness

Dropcam is a closed system – it only works with their cloud. I need a camera that works with Blue Iris software – which is almost every camera other than Dropcam. There is no solution for me that involves Dropcam. Thanks for trying, though.

handleym

There is a SERIOUS problem with dropcam — their iPhone software is garbage.
I’m really sad to say this — for the last year I’ve used dropcam and it started off great. But over the year, the problems with their iPhone app have grown from negligible to unacceptable. The issue is particularly important if you rely on geofencing to automatically active and deactivate the camera.

A long term problem has been that every time their app is updated (which is once a week or so) it forgets that geofencing has been set. But at least that ws a one-time thing. The current state of affairs, as of their latest software and iOS 8.1 is that geofencing flat-out doesn’t work. EVER. Under any conditions. Note that this is purely dropcam’s issue. I have plenty of other apps that utilize geofencing and they all work fine under iOS 8.1 .

(There are many other problems that are less serious but give one a feeling that the company is either deliberately trying to sabotage iOS or does not know what it is doing. For example the app fails in a spectacularly unhelpful way if you change your password using the web site. It doesn’t tell you that a new password needs to be entered, and alternates between indicating that you have no cameras attached and displaying blank screens.
This level of general software incompetence starts to make you wonder about their security competence…)

So, honestly, if geofencing and iOS matter to you, look elsewhere. It’s a shame — they were a great service for a while. But things change, and in this case they have changed dramatically for the worse.

Have you tried resetting the network settings? And do you have ‘Share my location’ turned on? I read that turning of ‘share my location’ deactivates geofencing 100%.

handleym

Dropcam have (after an altercation between them and me that, unfortunately, had to become very nasty at times) FINALLY admitted that there is a problem with geofencing.

You can see that I am not making this up by going to their iPhone app page where you will see review after review complaining about the same thing.

I’ve no idea why ‘Share my location’ should be relevant. I have plenty of other apps on my phone that utilize geofencing and they work just fine.

As far as I can tell, Dropcam is flat out not making the correct OS calls. Following the instructions of their tech support I deleted the app from my phone (and from iTunes) then re-installed it. At NO point in the process (not when I asked it to find my current location, not when I asked it to use geofencing) did I ever see the “Dropcam wishes to use your location” dialog that iOS will display whenever an app asks for location info.

I don’t know what is going on here. They used to have geofencing working, so they obviously know the calls to make. This stuff is not hard — plenty of companies with vastly smaller resources manage to ship functional location based iOS apps.

They appear to have decided NOT to make the calls that were formerly working, and to ship a number of updates, over a longing period of time, in this state. Why? I have no idea, but it makes you wonder what their priorities are.

Dropcam have also told me that the next rev of the app (3.4.4) will fix the problem, and that this is due any day now. It would be nice to trust them, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Glad to hear their new app will fix it. 3.4.3 was released on October 22. Apple is notorious for not pushing updates through as fast as liked by app makers so I guess we’ll give it a week before really getting into it. Seriously, thanks for this feedback. Always helpful.

MeaMea

Nest happened. That’s the problem.

Zaphod2010

It doesn’t work that well with Droids either. We have both droids and iPads.

Alerts can be configured to send an email in the event of a motion or sound or if the camera goes offline (which could be an indication of physical tampering, or someone disabling your network). Email alerts also include a photo of the event trigger and a timestamp, and in our testing came in less than a minute. Here’s a shot of my dog Sadie jumping into the bathtub. And no, I haven’t the faintest clue as to why she decided it was a good idea to jump into the bathtub.

I don’t see the specific review on Best Buy that you’re referring to on motion detection, but Peter did in fact test motion detection (an image of his dog jumping into a bathtub is above) so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.

Zaphod2010

Dropcam is iffy at best. Some days it records everything but most of the time it doesn’t record and you have to go into their website to rest the areas again and again.

Max

The Samsung Smartcam Hd Pro has not been discussed much, so I submit my 2 cents for consideration.

Personally, this is the best surveillance/monitoring camera for my needs. The best features in my opinion are local storage via an sd card (i.e. I don’t have to pay $10/month to record video on a cloud), minimal lag in two audio communication (1-2 seconds, and supposedly much better than the dropcam), and the ability to use pre-recorded sound bites. I plan to use this device as a way to keep track of my dog while I am away and distract him if he’s causing trouble. So far, it has worked brilliantly. It was easy to set up (literally done in 5 min). Motion and audio detection work well. Video quality is solid, including night vision. Audio communication seems to work well, although I felt the need to connect it to some speakers. Connecting to the camera can take a few seconds, which can be annoying, but so far it’s been bearable. All in all, I am happy so far. The best part, in my opinion, is no monthly subscription fees, which can add up quickly over the life of the camera.

There are negatives to be sure, some of which may make it a non-starter for certain individuals. One, there’s no cloud recording feature – this means a burglar could come in, just smash the cam and take the sd card. I am not as concerned about this, giving my use case. The device can also be set to send snapshots via email when an alert is triggered — not an elegant solution, but it meets the dropcam a quarter of the way. Two, the app and website are not the prettiest, and some may call it clunky. I call it good enough. My concern here is that the app and website will fall further behind and stop receiving updates. Three, some have complained about the cheap build of the device and its aesthetics. It’s basically true; the device is plasticky although I rather like the overall look. In the end, however, I was willing to compromise on that front to get the features I want. Last and perhaps the most legitimate for my use case is the speaker. It’s not the best, but I am not sure if any competing cameras are any better. My solution? Hook it up to speakers.

If anyone has questions, I will be happy to help answer.

Don Juane

I got lost in this long article, sorry, but I still appreciate the info. I am looking to put up a camera in my parents living room because they are very old and fall a lot and I want to check in on them a couple of times a day to see if they are OK. I want to be able to access either the camera or a computer that has the video feed available for streaming and I want to attach to either the PC in their home or the remote camera if it supports that feature. I wish to view the video feed “on demand” for about 5 minutes 3 or so times a day. To view the video I would like to use either a PC app, an Android app or a webpage portal that receives video directly, that is, it doesn’t receive the video after it has been fed through some corporate entity. I don’t want the camera uploading their life activity to some “cloud” when it might be hacked and I don’t want a monthly or a monitoring fee added – if that is even possible.

What’s the best answer for me? (I have no issues with opening ports on routers, setting static DHCP tables or using a DynamicDNS entry to access their equipment, as I already do that for giving them remote assistance with their computer.) I also don’t mind wires in the walls as it is a single story dwelling and I run wires for everything else. I run LAN wire to every Internet appliance. (Have enough problems with my setups without adding wireless to the equation.) I can use wireless if no wired capability exists.

Basically I am looking for clear streaming video, on demand basis, no recording with non cloud transfer and no monthly fees. Thanks for any info you can provide.

I think your best bet is going to be something like a Foscam that records directly to a NAS or the camera itself. With that being said, if you remote into the desktop at your parent’s place, the quality may likely be degraded on your end. And I don’t really think there’s a way around a third party company seeing the feed if you want something with an app. I believe it would have to go through their servers before hitting the app. BUT I could be wrong.”

Hope this helps!

LM

i’ve been looking for an IP camera to monitor my dogs. I work long hours and time to time they are left alone for a long period of time. It would be nice to keep my eye on them as well as check up on my dog sitter to make sure things are being done properly. It would be nice to have the option to save the recording.

Any recommendations? I was orginally going to buy the Dropcam pro as it was recommended by my friend, but based on this review, there are many other options with lesser value. Plus, I t seems like pro takes up quite a bit of bandwidth

Your feedback would be really appreciated! Thanks!

nick

I’m wondering when this “wireless” technology will truly become wireless.
When can I put a battery powered WIRELESS camera on a tree out front – connected to my WIFI?
I love the “wireless” camera blah blah and the photo has a wire… what gives?

George Orwell would never have imagined that people would willingly pay with their own money to have Big Brother’s eye installed in their own homes. The idea of voluntarily giving Google, which is a strong contender for creepiest company in the world (the other one being Facebook), access to video and audio feeds of what is going on inside your home, simply boggles the mind.

I won’t consider any cloud-connected camera, even if the service is free, period.

Sometimes the need for a tool is greater than ones fear of the tools possible misuse.

MeaMea

None of our cameras record inside. They are recording the four corners of our house and the are placed inside looking out. If the sun shines on tad lense the recording is useless though.

Dave M / Atlanta, GA

I have a windowless office in my basement. I would like to get an outdoor IP cam to streaming pictures of my bird feeds onto a monitor in my office (to create a virtual window). Can you recommend a cam for this? I only need a 60o field of view and would like good resolution. I have plenty of WAN bandwidth and no problem getting power to the camera. TIlt and pan would be good, as would voice but voice is definitely not a requirement. (I don’t want to talk to the birds but the camera would be near my front door.) I’d like to spend no more than $250. Any ideas? Thanks!

Dave

Caroline Goodwin

I really like the Dropcam as a baby monitor, but I find it a bit intrusive to just a put an security camera in plain sight in my baby’s room. Would be great if there were a more friendly looking version for babies.

Jonathn just posted a reply with a link to this cute panda. I saw it in my email inbox. Not sure why the comment is not showing here. But yeah I was looking for something cute and child friendly like this:

The Dropcam replacement program is for Dropcam Original and Dropcam Echo owners – these devices were sold between Sep 2009 and Dec 2011. Dropcam HD owners do not qualify as they’ll continue to be supported by our cloud service and continued updates.

Your section about bitrates seem to be a bit off if I’m not mistaken. A stream at 200-300 Kbps works out to be between 0.2-0.3 Mbps. You guys say that comes out to 1.4-2.2 Mbps. And if the camera were running for an hour at 200-300 Kbps wouldn’t that be between 720-1080 MB for each hour (0.2MBx60sec=12MB)(12MBx60min=720MB) etc…

Also I don’t own the camera so I’m just researching specs. The spec sheet that I have in the link below says the camera is 720p for the pro. You have the important specs at the top listing the resolution at 720p but mention 1080 several times throughout the page including in your opening summary. Am I missing something there?

The problem with the DropCam is that it is proprietary, so it won’t work with software like Security Spy from BenSoftware. That is a severe limitation. The only way to save recordings is to use their paid service.

MeaMea

Biggest problem I’ve found with dropcam is that I have to continually delete and set up the motion and recording area because it stops working at different times of the day or night. Of course, usually when you are trying to find something that actually happened.
Another problem is that recordings you are not watching pop up on the bottom of what you are trying to watch and you can’t see what you need to watch.

Zaphod2010

Yes, I have the same problem. I have to literally go in every day to set up the area to record. It just doesn’t stay.
I reiterate that it wasn’t this bad until Nest took over. They now have all these cutesy things but the product is getting worse.
With dropcam you could watch actual recordings and what it didn’t record sometimes in between t with the new “improved” nest software you can ONLY watch what the camera records if/when it does.
Hate it!

MeaMea

Forgot to add that you can’t store something you want save even I’d you are paying the exorbitant money you do for the cameras.
What’s the point of being able to record if you can’t easily save a print offline?

You can always screen record what you’re watching. Not an elegant solution of course but just putting it out there. In the future we’ll have more options for local storage – but regardless, Dropcam is the best wireless IP camera out there. It’s meant to be a simple streaming setup rather than a closed circuit security system.

Hope Lipp Hall

You wrote, “We may look into options that enable localized storage, etc in a future guide if we get enough requests, but the bottom line is that for the time being, you will not find a simpler setup with anywhere near as good image quality as Dropcam without investing a lot more money and time to make it happen.” Please oh please do this. I would be so happy if I could find a way tot get this video to YouTube Live, for that I understand it needs to go local so that my only option for sharing is not an embed code. I would love to provide a 24/7 stream from my barn where 20 goats are due to have kids this spring. Thanks for any clever workarounds you may have!

I just check out their website. Looks like they released a new “cube” camera late last year as well. Quite pricey. But nice specs.
What i am looking for a a camera that doesnt require a subscription service, that i can use a Phone (Android/iOS) AND also a generic webpage to view. If it uploaded to Dropbox or other cloud storage that would be nice. Phillips did a camera a while back, but I read reviews of people saying its not good

Nzugu Hoffman

Me, too, looking for an Io camera to hook up to NAS, with email (text?) notifications (motion detection, I understand, is software anyway, provided by Synology’s Surveillance Station), IR/night vision, 2-way audio, PoE would be nice, as would optical zoom and WDR, Plug’n’Play or at least user friendliness.

Having spent 2 hours researching options, I found none I like. I’m not willing to pay for DropCam sub as I need a rudimentary security cam, all these Chinese IP cams seem to miss one feature or another or they’re anything but user-friendly and then there are what appear to be decent cameras but with a $3.000 price tag.

KiwiBri

I have the synology NAS as well. I forgot about its camera capabilities. I’m tempted with FICA but I hear so many varied results.
Mind you I have a couple WeMo Devices and they work great for me but I see many complaints online??

Nzugu Hoffman

WeMo looks great. Most manufacturers seem to neglect the form factor. Synology NAS seems like an obvious choice and you get a license for 1 camera for its SS but I have no idea how it compares to Blue Iris or others. What’s a FICA?

KiwiBri

Sorry, FICA was an autocorrect typo. I corrected it. I meant FOSCAM . Problem with Synology the extra licences are like $50 each.

btw, I’ve been keeping an eye on the SmartThings home automation hub. The new version 2.0 one will be out this spring and apparently they can support WeMo and other 3rd party devices too. Its a Wink competitor who Samsung is the parent company. Hoping to use a camera to hook into that system etc.

Ken Esq

SmartThings hub 2.0 has been delayed. We might not see it available until the fall. I have the earlier hub though and have found it to be very nice. Their support is quite good too. However, they don’t have a lot of options for working with a camera.

KiwiBri

thanks for that, yeah I just read their blog. Looks like now its still a free for all in the home automation industry

james

hello to you all…
I am thinking of building my own home surveillance system. but it seems there is jungle out there for there kind of gadgets. so you help is much appreciated.

I am looking for a reliable network/ip cameras ( need maybe 3, or 4 of those )with motion detection, cloud facilities, and night visions.
it could be nice if i could monitor the my place in real time though iphone, and mac too 😉

It sounds like you actually might be in need of a real home security system. You could piece together everything you need from several different makers & create your system, but getting them all to work in unison without any problems sounds near impossible. We have a home security guide, but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for. Sorry we can’t be of more help

Just set up my first Dropcam Pro and love the ease of use and planned on getting more. I have connected the camera via AirPlay but as soon as you close your iPad/Computer or Phone the connection is lost. This limits the usability to just streaming on mobile device or computer only (which it works perfectly on). If your using these in an office or store setting and want to see if someone is about to walk in the door or walking around the store you will have to leave your device on and open all the time which is not feasible. If the app was on an Apple TV you can connect to a TV and leave it on all the time during business hours. Until this is available I am retuning the cameras I have to Best Buy. Bummer because I love love love the devices. I guess nothing is perfect but for 200.00 per camera (50.00 more than most others) there needs to be a dongle or connection of some kinds in the box to stream to a TV’s HDMI or USB Port, if the app isn’t going to be there… The future of video surveillance is here and its doesn’t include the TV?? LOL!

Grant

I use a Motarola Focus 66 security WiFi camera, less then half the price of dropcam, incredibly easy to use & set up and has all the features, it has motion detection, sound detection, 2way talk, temperature monitoring & alerts (you can set a range for temp, if it falls outside it will send you a an alert), clips/events are stored in a time line. I’m still on a free trial at the moment but plans start from $2.99 a month. All runs through a Hubble app to my samsung S4. They also do a Focus 85 model with pan tilt and zoom and an outdoor camera. Highly recommend!

andy

hi, could you help to make review for below product? it’s the security monitor too, but only work in house with digital commission, not wifi. More stable and fluently.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OTB0HZE

Ty

I found two major flaws with the Dropcam.

The first flaw is that it doesn’t support audio in the background. That means that if you use this as a baby monitor you will have to have the video on all night which will light up your room and use a ton of bandwidth. This is a simple feature that every baby monitor has. You hear the baby crying, you reach over to enable the video footage. Easy. Not so on the Dropcam. You always have to have video and audio running at the same time.

The second flaw is that you can’t use local wifi only. This means that the camera would use the speed of your router, not your internet speed. In almost every case your local wifi will be faster and more reliable than your internet. The camera has the ability to stream 1080p but only 720p is available because all the footage has to go through their server first and then back to your device. This is why it uses so much bandwidth and won’t work for a lot of people with restricted internet providers. Having it set up on a local network would allow us to stream at 1080p without the 2-5 second lag. Another pro would be that if your internet is down you can still use your camera. Also, when your traveling you would be able to bring it with you.

These features have been requested for the last two years on their website with no response. Fix those two problems and you would have a superior camera in every way.

SATP

Looking for a security camera to monitor the street outside.
The options mentioned in this article require either the cloud or online access through manufacturer’s website. Don’t feel comfortable with any surveillance pictures or info being on the cloud or a third party.
If I need access to the camera when I’m away, I’d rather implement a DIY setup using VPN instead.
Can anyone recommend any other options that do not require the cloud or third party online access? And has great vision for the outdoors and during night time hours?

SATP

Hey WireCutter — just to follow-up, have you had any experience with Ubiquiti’s UniFi Video Camera? It’s an IP camera with IR and local storage. It seems like it could do everything I’m asking for. Any thoughts?

You’re getting a bit further into the tinkering/advanced user aspect of cams. We really don’t cover anything like that because it’s niche. I have a personal anecdote regarding a similar situation though. I used a webcam on an old PC. I would remote login and view the webcams always on screen. Could record/snap photos at will. Jimmy-rigged setup, but it worked!

SATP

Thanks Tony. Actually, the camera itself I want to keep as simple as possible.
It’s the extraneous cloud or 3rd party features that I can do without. For instance, if I need Internet access to my camera (e.g. live streaming), I can implement this myself using other tools. I don’t want my camera to have built-in or forced cloud features.
So a cheap IP camera that has great night vision and has only local storage to a SD card for recording sounds great. Count me in as someone who would be interested in a non-cloud camera choice if you opt to write one in the future.
Which cheap IP cam did you end up going with by the way?

I bought a Winbook IP cam for $29. I was able to set it up in literally 1 minute. Downloaded iPhone app at store before purchasing, got home, plugged into router, scanned QR code, entered password, unplugged from router, done. The IR works surprisingly well for pitch black rooms at night. Swiping on screen to move the camera up/down/left/right is nice. Motion detection works great. The video isn’t blu-ray quality of course and it’s a little smaller than a 12oz soda can – but for $29 it’s just super. The microphone is also nice so I can talk to my pup when I’m not at home. You can also record straight to an SD card, schedule it to record at certain times, change the refresh rate, etc etc etc.

I plan to pick up a few more while they’re on sale. While I’d prefer to have Dropcams due to their awesomeness, size & reliability, I just don’t want to drop that much money on something I’m treating as more or less a hobby than a direct security tool. If that makes sense?

SATP

Yes it does. Thanks again, I’ll check out the Winbook IP camera.

Again, I’d like to put in my vote for a non-cloud camera full Wirecutter write-up in the future.

wont be a drop cam. its an indoors only camera. but xiaomi yi is also an internal only that only costs 31 bucks.

Taylor

For cameras with local monitoring/SD card slots – would you be able to utilize a wifi SD card so that captures are sent straight to your computer? Just seems like you would have no evidence of anything happening at your place if a person just steals the camera…

BrianC6796

Sorry. I was referring to Charge HR. My second post wasn’t in response to your question- just another pint. Sorry for the confusion.

JollyGo0d

Wire Cutter crew – Will you be reviewing Canary? Also, it was mentioned in passing – have you reviewed the Piper NV? I’m on the fence between those two and Dropcam Pro. I just want the device which streams most flawlessly and sends alerts the quickest. I’m also interested in clip storage. Looking to use this mainly for monitoring my pup but also catching anybodys entry on video or images.

Yes I do believe we will be looking into Canary – in a home security setting over at The Sweethome too IIRC

JollyGo0d

Looking at their blog and support forums – it appears that upon acquisition, Nest has ceased responding to customers or updating the software. Competitors are now surpassing them in areas such as improved alert frequency and providing 12-24 hours of free cloud recordings in 1080p…

I’ve had a combo unit for over 2 years that works flawlessly – the SBG6580 SURFboard. Love that device. But go ahead and pay double for a separate router and modem if you want LOL

NoMore

Just bought a Dropcam Pro and will be returning it. Like many others have found out the motion/sound alerts are pushed to the App anywhere from 60-90 minutes after the fact.

Stephen Barnes

What do you think of the Netgear Arlo? It’s completely wireless (4 batteries provide power), 720p, 7 days of Cloud storage included free of charge. It’s only a motion recording system. However, you can manually record video or take pictures.

We mention it in our ‘What to look forward to’ section. We have not reviewed/evaluated it yet.

We found the VueZone from Netgear a little behind the times when we tested it earlier this year, but Netgear is planning to replace it with a new system called Arlo that’s far more promising. Like its predecessor, Arlo uses two small indoor/outdoor wireless cameras–these are said to run for 4 to 6 months on a single charge–but they are higher quality this time around: better video resolution (720p), night vision, and a wider viewing angle (120 degrees). This version will do 24/7 live streaming with push notifications to your phone when motion is detected and store up to 2 to 3 weeks of video at a time on Netgear’s servers for no additional monthly fee. The Arlo also comes with a base station that the cameras need to be within 150 feet of in order to stream video. The base station connects to your existing local network and compresses the video so it streams at a rate that most home networks can handle and that won’t kill the cameras’ batteries too quickly. The kit is $350.

Zaphod2010

Might try Arlo vs dropcam.

davidmcelroy

I want to embed the video stream in a web page that’s accessible to the public, but I don’t want to give the public any ability to control the zoom or anything like that. Is that possible and simple with the Dropcam (or competitive products)?

As soon as I know it’s coming down the pipes I’ll reply to you regarding it here!

Phillip Ramirez

there are a couple software that can do this for you. it wont be a dropcam compatible though. bluecherry is one of them

adam222green

Privacy? The “cloud” is not necessarily a secure or private storage. Who “owns” the video once it’s stored in any given company’s cloud? Do all these files just end up in an NSA database because to be stored on a cloud, they need to have been transmitted over the Internet?

I’m not a reviewer here. I’m a community/production guy. The cam I bought can’t be found nationwide and to be 100% honest I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that wasn’t looking specifically for something to customize & tinker with – or someone looking to avoid the Dropcam all together.

Most people are looking for the best for their dollar, something that works out of the box, with little to no tinkering product. My cam is now selling for $100, you can only get them from Microcenter or Fry’s, and it was a PITA to set up. Not to mention it’s 3 times the size of the Dropcam & white, making it not exactly the best option to tuck away.

Phillip Ramirez

i see. so in reality this isnt the best. just the easiest tolocate and setup.

It’s the best for the majority of people looking for a reliable IP cam.

The Darling Kinkshamer

No, not for the $200 price it is not the best, there are so cameras in the $50-$100 range.

Flemming__Hansen

Dropcam compared with an old SVGA Foscam? It should be Foscam FI9826 1.3M (>HD) – same price as the dropcam but with PTZ, x3 zoom, IR (night vision) and so on – and Foscam which is more defacto standard with 3rd party software packages, i.e. your mobile devices or workstation apps. If you want the old Foscam you can get 2-3 of them for the price of the Dropcam. However FI9826 is superior to the dropcam both quality, features and compatibility.

Got a Dropcam a few months ago. I have been having issues with my location settings either not turning on/off. More importantly, alerts don’t consistently get sent to me when ‘schedule by location’ is used. However all alerts are recorded in the app. The alerts seem to only send when I schedule by time or manually turn the Dropcam on. I know, it’s not the end of world to operate it a different way, but this location awareness was a big selling point for me on the camera. Anyhow, I contacted Nest/Dropcam, and after a few back and forth emails, got this:

“This has been a bit of an issue for iOS users since iOS 8 came out. It really just doesn’t report to the app consistently the phones location as well as earlier versions did. We have update the app with an ability to swipe to confirm a change, but that only fixed part of the issue. Unfortunately the location aware features currently just work better on Android devices. The new Nest app doesn’t even have an option for location scheduling. It seems that with your current equipment and situation the time schedule is going to be the best option for you.”

Basically, don’t use this, and we knew about it. That’s pretty lousy for a ‘premium’ camera that seemingly included this as part of it’s feature list. Boo(urns).

Zaphod2010

Forgot to mention I have a Droid Maxx and iPad.

Zaphod2010

Another it problem dropcam has is that it has to be placed close to the router. We can’t have anything on the other side of the house.
The on/off recording was sketchy before but, it seems to me, since Nest took over Dropcam that is has gotten worse.
Of course, it doesn’t record or alert you of anything when it’s most needed.
This happens during the day and at night.
Still looking for a better solution and as soon as I find it bye, bye dropcam.

madmaxCA

We found dropcam to be lame in our mountain home, where we depend on cellular and satellite for internet connectivity. The dropcam in this environment is completely useless because the network bandwidth is not good enough to copy in real time to a CVR, and then the lack of support for any local VR capability means the dropcam is non-functional. We adopted FOSCAM FI9826W and FI9900P that has performed nearly flawlessly in our mountain home environment. Of course you can directly record real time video to local VR systems, so that out of the box makes it superior to dropcam. In addition, while the author of this article indicates FOSCAM has low resolution, the author was perhaps purposefully giving numbers for an old camera; the FI19826 records at 30fps at a resolution of 1280×960, so while still not as good as the HD dropcam, it is respectable, and then the other features such as pan-tilt-zoom make it potentially more useful, and of course the cost is maybe a third of the dropcam HD, so that while true the field of vision is half of what you get with dropcam, you can afford to by two and have the same coverage. Combine this with the fact that the cameras are compatible with very nice third part camera management software and, well, FOSCAM is an all around better value for those willing to work just a little bit harder to set up.

Finally, the comment from the author of this article that somehow there is a security issue in the FOSCAM cameras that make others wary of recommending is completely laughable. Seriously, take the 5 seconds it would take to change the default login and the problem is solved. On the other hand, because our federal government now mandates secret back doors into products of the type Nest manufactures so that they can be accessed by government officials and anyone else the government deems necessary, and given the companies are forced to lie about building in these back doors (Snowden did wonderful job of showing us all the game that is being played this way), any system purchased from U.S. manufacturers is out of the gate subject to critical security flaws, whereas those devices manufactured from China do not provide the U.S. government such back doors (while China may certainly demand back doors for Chinese governments, I would rather have the Chinese government spying on me than our own government!).

GAR

I think you should definitely revisit the wireless ip camera business. Much has changed in the six months since this review… I don’t consider paying an additional $300/yr for their cloud service a viable option with storage so cheap.

Hey glad you’re revisiting this. I’d also be interested in how the Fujikam performs. I noticed it’s currently the #1 item in its category on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JAJ9U8K

Also, it’d be awesome if you could either do a test of baby monitors, or include a paragraph in the revision of this article to let us know your pick of video monitors for this scenario. The special needs of hearing the baby breathing, and motion detecting (day and night) to make sure it moves (is still alive) are really important and it’d be interesting to know if it’s better to go old school with an RF device, or new school with something like a Nest Cam.

Oren Arbit

Anyone know if IR (Infrared) LED light is safe for long exposure with babies?

Tim Barribeau

As far as we’ve been able to find, there are no known issues. IR LEDs are widely used in baby monitors, and IR light is fundamentally very safe for humans due to it being basically heat (and is also produced naturally by the Sun, which is one of the reasons our planet supports life.)

There has been a fair amount of research into the safety of infrared exposure in humans, but it’s almost all aimed at adults in industrial/commercial settings.

Obviously babies are different (babies: they’re not just tiny grownups) due the fact that their vision is still developing, and lack a degree of the built in safety and protection that adults have. However, with that said, most of the existing research seems to be concerned with infared light sources that are orders of magnitude more powerful than what you’re looking at in a standard security camera.

But, if you’re worried, you could use a non-IR camera and a small nightlight in the room.

Phillip Ramirez

So only 2 cameras? Reviewed? Looks more like a dropcam advert. No hikvision? There is a 30 dollar dropcam clone that has sd and local storage. No review? Come on guys

We actually took a look at cams from Belkin, Foscam, Logitech, Netcam. Dropcam’s were just the best. And even though a knockoff Dropcam with an SD card might sound like a good idea, we really don’t want to point people in the wrong direction. I personally use a no-name with a certain setup, but I’m a bit of a nerd. I even had trouble trying to format an SD card – because the format had to be occur via the cams software in order for it to work – not via computer then inserted. Tricky stuff!

If my mom wants an IP cam for her home, I’m telling her to get a Dropcam for ease of use & peace of mind. With that said, we’ve set this guide to wait while we look at even more models – however, I believe the newest iteration of Dropcam (Nest version) is leading in most categories. Hope this helps!

Phillip Ramirez

but you missed a ton of others. hikvision. 3m cams that has onboard sd and can also store the media to an NVR or a computer. the setup is easy. granted it isnt something your grandmother would setup. but who would recommend a camera that will cost as much as one does to a woman who is on a fixed income?

what you did was review name brand camera’s and went with the one that everyone thinks is the best because of the ad dollars spent. the new itteration of the dropcam isnt even close to being the best. not in capture ability nor software. hikvision and dahua are by far better camera’s with better software and better PQ and if you dont mind the grey market cheaper then the dropcam with no need for an internet connection.

I concur, it was a huge miss to leave out HikVision and Dahua. Further, it’s worth noting that many cameras which are not cloud-based recorders out of the box can become cloud recorders, using a service like MangoCam.

If you buy Hikvision and something goes wrong, you could be SOL. No warranty or jumping through hoops for a grey market product. Dahua seems more like a security camera setup. Cameras appear to be kinda pricy too, maybe we’ll check them out in the future.

We didn’t feel like there was a good apples-to-apples comparison between the best-in-class wireless IP cameras that had cloud services run by the companies that make them and local-only or local-plus-third-party options. We’ll be pitting local-only or local-plus-other-storage-option models against each other in the future.

Phillip Ramirez

how is it not apples to apples? only thing not apples to apples is the fact you have to rely on a 3rd party to store your footage and will have to pay for the services through your internet charges or through a subscription fee. on top of that having these go to cloud also increased your data usage which can and will cause people to go over their caps and or rquire them to up their bandwidth tier so they dont have the slow downs.

If you subtract the subjective issue (based on sales of Nest Cam and other cloud-backed cameras, lots of people are willing to pay the cloud-hosting fees), that’s exactly it!

The cost for locally stored (or local plus other options for storage) is much less, but there are so many cameras in that category, and so many are so new to the market, we didn’t feel we could evaluate that as a separate category yet, and they would fare poorly except on cost. (Some cheaper cameras do have specific better features, it’s true, however.)

That’s why we published an update to a previous guide now that’s focused on cloud-backed cameras, as we describe in the opening, in our picking description, and throughout.

I hear what you’re saying, and it’s exactly why we’re going to research and test cameras that fit your specific query.

Phillip Ramirez

so wouldnt explaining it to the readers that there are better ways be better? instead what we see is if you want camera’s for home then buy a nestcam. dont get me wrong i see your target demographic are those who dont want to be bothered doing a little configuration. but the sole purpose of cutting a wire such as it is, is to end subscription fee’s at least that was why many want to cut the cord.

Hikvision does not warrant to provide the after-sale services or support for any of the Hikvision products purchased through any channels other than Hikvision’s official website or the local authorized retailers.

So if you buy from Amazon, you might not even have a warranty. Not saying this is 100% the case, but its a hassle we don’t want anyone to have to deal with. Or you can go through a local dealer, for a markup to make sure you have a warranty.

As for the NVR/Computer setup, this requires an always-on system. Might be OK for those that already leave a computer running, but for others, not so much.

An anecdote for you – it took me, a mediocre tech savvy person, about a week to figure out why my SD card wouldn’t record on my IP cam. Turns out you have to format the card while it’s in the cam. None of the documentation even noted this. No pre-formatting & inserting like I assumed. Just one more thing that can cause problems when it comes to these types of setups.

Phillip Ramirez

thing is you can get hikvision made camera’s from many suppliers that are not a huge some of money. even so warentee on these camera’s are worthless anyway. they are very short. and to replace a camera you have to pay shipping both ways and often times they will claim the person did something wrong. and yes it does have to do with ad dollars. if you do not give good reviews you dont get the samples to test and the adverts for your page. this is the problem with almost every tech blog and site out there. sorry but it isnt a secret as to why most reviews done by sites like cnet rarely gives a bad review.

Theo

I know the Arlo is on the “what to look forward to” section, but are there any plans to review the Arlo, now that its been out for a few months?

Sora57

You should also look at the DLink wireless cameras. I have 7 of them and they are so simple to set up and come in a variety of flavors (SD/HD, P/T/Z or stationary). I check on my cats, my sump pumps and attic (for leaks during rain storms), and garage. iPhone App is simple and it’s easy to control the PTZ cams and take snap shots. I get audio alerts and motion alerts within 10 seconds of detection. And the cameras are inexpensive. They have an NVR if you need more cams or want local storage, too. Check it out

gdbjr

While I do think the dropcam is the best hardware out there, the picture is really great. The IOS app is just awful. The actual dropcam app, which is no longer being supported has been buggy for a while, mine logs me out constantly and the location based feature hasn’t worked since Nest bought them. The new Nest app lacks so many features that is is unusable. Nest has no timeline for adding features to the Nest app that are missing, such as turning your alerts on and off, that I don’t see how you could have used the app and still recommended it.

Zaphod2010

Nest is more interested in All but the cameras, it seems. The worst thing that could have happened to dropcam was nest.
Our cameras are down or not recording more than working for the amount of money we have to, now, pay nest.
Useless and looking for another wireless home system.

Zack Stark

Arlo would be perfect if IFTTT was there.. i am a proud owner of the system and this is really all I want at this point — near perfect coming from dropcam pro (3mo arlo owner)

Zaphod2010

Terrible system. Doesn’t record when it’s most needed. It spends more time loading than doing what it’s supposed to do. The system doesn’t allow you to look at portions without hiding half of the screen.
I TRULY don’t understand why dropcam continues to come in first. Are the others that bad?
There’s got to be something else better out there and, if not, it can’t be that hard to surpass dropcam.
If the cameras are NOT near the router the cameras are useless hence you can’t place the where you really want them.
Will continue to look for something else. Tired of wasting my money so I can record a tiny amount of time.

They’re the best because they’re extremely easy to set up, maintain, and offer fantastic video quality. Also, you don’t need to have these near the router. In range of the wifi is sufficient.

Betty Louie

I am sorry, but anyone doing a serious IP camera review that indicates that the Dropcam/Nest is the best overall camera is missing the bigger point – this camera is USELESS unless you also subscribe to their RIDICULOUS subscription service.

The only way a Dopcam/Nest IP camera is good (without the subscription service) is if you are actually sitting in your house. And this defeats the purpose of having an IP camera!

You CANNOT access your live camera, view old videos, or receive important motion-alerts (intruders?) WITHOUT a subscription!

This is simply not true. While I’m not a huge fan of their business model, you do not need a subscription to access your camera/view your camera. You only need the pay subscription if you want to have the cloud video service that lets you record & view later.

Every Dropcam includes live streaming video anytime, anywhere, (including mobile devices) for free! You also have the option of subscribing to a cloud recording plan for access to recorded video.

We’ll be touching on this more in the update. But as of now there aren’t many solid options out there with free DVR/recording service, and if you want local recording stored you need a dedicated setup & software to record 24/7 locally. There are options with SD cards built in (I use this) but its not for everyone. It’s super technical and was a PITA to set up – not to mention the cards eventually fill up and need to be wiped out.

Unkle Rukus

Where is the cloud located? I saw one camera (Vimtag) that sent all of your data to China 24/7.
I want a wireless camera that will record to my 2TB hard drive and I can access it through Wi-Fi.
I’m not in a hurry so I can wait for a good response.
TIA

for IP he only needs something that can act like an nvr and any of the megapixel ip camera’s that hikvision or dahua make have the ftp capability. and a mycloud drive has the capability of using ftp uploads.

Tim

You can view the live feed, you just can’t view a recorded history of what happened without paying. But you can most definitely watch a live feed and even speak and hear to whoever is around.

JR

The changeover to Nest has been very buggy, and we are simply trying to use the dropcam as a baby monitor. The fact that it can’t be set up with its own wireless network is really a bummer because we ALWAYS want to be able to watch the camera WHEN WE ARE INSIDE OUR HOUSE. Wondering if there is a better solution that integrates with smartphones, etc.

Mario Olivio Flores

Yeah, i’m reading all the amazon reviews on this transition and think I’ll stay away.

SR

The original Dropcam was 720p. The Dropcam Pro was touted by numerous website reviewers as 1080p, It is not. Dropcam Pro is only streaming at 720p. I’ve called Nest customer service several times recently complaining that the Dropcam Pro image quality is not as sharp as some other ip cameras I’ve seen. That’s when I was told that the Dropcam Pro and Nestcam do not have the software to stream in 1080p. I was further told that “their engineers are working” on an algorithm software fix so that Dropcam Pro and the Nestcam can stream in 1080p. The Dropcam Pro box states that it’s “up to 1080p HD”. But not just right now. Or for the last year for that matter. Think the Nestcam streams in 1080p? Call Nest customer service before putting your money down. And if you already bought one and don’t like that it doesn’t do what you thought it does you can wait for the “fix” or you do what the customer service manager rep told me. “Sell it on Ebay”. With that said, it’s a decent product if you don’t want 1080p streaming and don’t mind paying over $100 a year for a continuous 7 day cloud recording.

Chris_irish

I will add my voice to the people asking for a camera with local storage. There is no way on earth that I would buy a camera which requires me to pay a subscription fee for the privilege of recording video, when I have 2tb of hard drive and SD cards are so cheap.

I’m surprised that the only Foscam you mention is the cheapo $60 model, and you note that the features are junk (of course). The F19826P seems comparable both price and feature wise, would have been nice to see a review of that. The foscam security issue is not something that would bother me if the camera was worthwhile.

Tim

So when someone breaks into your house and takes the camera with the SD card with them… then what?

Chris_irish

So, what, we just ignore a whole feature set because another feature is more useful in some situations?

The Amcrest ProHD is the top seller on amazon, and it will save video to an SD Card, network hard drive, FTP, media server, OR their cloud service which will give you 4 hours for free, with plans going higher for a fee. I’m not saying that cloud storage is a bad thing, but I am saying that only allowing cloud storage for a monthly fee is a deal breaker.

We opted to not compare apples and oranges here, because the feature sets are so different. The separate guide we’ll produce won’t exclude cameras with a cloud-storage option—only those that require a subscription fee to use it.

As noted in the review, there’s also the concern that a camera that uses a company’s servers and cloud storage for access could become obsolete if the company discontinues it and that service or goes out of business. While major makers, like Nest and Netgear, are unlikely to pull the plug instantly, it could be a problem for smaller firms. So it’s definitely also a consideration.

Phillip Ramirez

google and netgear along with most bestbuy available items disco services all the time. and when they do your 200 dollar camera is useless. if you want off site storage for most megapixel camera’s ftp is available.

In a future update, we expect to look at new entrants to the market, including the FlirFX and the Foscam C1, C2W, and R2W..

I am also a user/fan of the local storage option. However, someone being able to just take the SD card is worrisome. And having a set up to record to a computer would require it to always be on. This might be ok for some people but it’s not ideal. We’re aiming at the best wireless IP cam for most people – and while I’m not in love with it, the Nest is the easiest, nicest & most convenient setup on the market hands down.

Chris_irish

Thanks, good to know about the field of view.

compudude

Depending on how and where the camera is mounted, and SD card is accessed, simply taking the SD card out is not necessarily trivial.

If you’re using a camera with a built-in SD card for storage, you don’t usually need an always-on computer for recording, unless you’re going for extra protection. Of course, there are 3rd party cloud recording options, as well (some are even free, albeit with significant limitations).

I’d agree the Nest cam is very good hardware, and easy to use. It’s the reliability reports (read the iTunes App Store reviews) that give concern… particularly coupled with my own issues with the Nest thermostat that have come up since the Google purchase.

In the App Store it says Current Version: 4 Stars with 309 Ratings & 3 Stars on All Versions with 6198 Ratings. Not saying those are concrete but I expected to see it at like a 1 Star average on 5000 reviews.

We’re sticking with the Nest as our main pick, but we’re constantly evaluating & testing. Like Glenn said, we monitor situations and don’t hesitate to make changes on the fly. Thanks again for all the helpful feedback!

Thanks for the review! One minor nitpick: you’ve used “depth of field” in a couple of places where I think you mean field of view; depth of field refers to the portion (from near to far) that’s in focus, not to the viewing angle.

yea it seems affordable at first glance to get these cameras but being tethered to a subscription plan is not appealing. One better option is a Mobotix camera that is a 360º hemispheric camera if ceiling mounted you get every angle in the room (no blind spots) and one camera can replace several fixed directional mounted camera. And because its ceiling mounted it blends in and looks like a smoke detector so your video footage on the SD card is safe from common theft – and because its decentralized storage you can also store the data on to a NAS or other storage device / server. https://www.mobotix.com – it may require some wiring but you only need to run Cat6 cable since the device uses POE. set up a POE switch in a closet somewhere. I’d rather be tethered to ethernet for surveillance video and keep the WiFi for free from streaming video traffic.

Hi, Stephen! We often split large categories into different guides with specific criteria. In updating this guide, we found there’s a distinct split between wireless IP cameras that record only locally (but typically allow remote access) and those that push video to the cloud (and always allow remote access). We decided to create a separate guide for local-only storage, as there are a lot of cameras like that and they vary enormously in features, cost, and capabilities.

As we note upfront, some people (and based on feedback, quite a lot of people) want remote storage that they can access after the fact in case of a break-in, fire, accident, or other incident. With local storage, if a device is stolen, damaged, or destroyed, that’s unavailable. We found that to be a key differentiator, and we describe in this guide the costs that go along with recurring cloud-based subscriptions.

In a future guide, we’ll look at what options are best, and we’ll consider the Mobotix. A 360° camera and power over Ethernet are both interesting and limiting factors, and we look at a lot of characteristics, such as installation, camera/recording quality, and software ease of use. Thank you for the feedback!

compudude

DropCam has been trash since Nest bought them (technically, Google, since Google owns Nest). It’s not the hardware that’s bad, it’s the terrible app and horribly overpriced monitoring. I’m not clear on how you can recommend these cameras (which were once excellent) without noticing the abundance of 1 star reviews on the App Store, noting how terrible and unstable the Nest app is, and has been ever since Google took over.

Our reviewer put in substantial time testing the Nest alongside the several other cameras listed. He owned a Dropcam previously, and we note some of the software changes and issues. We look at a lot of sources, including Amazon reviews, but we weight those against our real-world testing, too. We calibrate in part by reading reviews by other testers to see if problems that crop up for Amazon reviewers are ones that other reviews see as well.

The cloud-storage fees charged by Nest aren’t out of line in proportion to what they offer relative to other services connected to cameras that we found work. We note the Simplicam, which is about 25% cheaper per camera and per year, but also stores less video. The Arlo is much less expensive, but has other limitations we note, but can work for some people.

Our reviewer (and none of our staff with Nest cams) is seeing instability with the apps of the scale that you’re apparently having and some Amazon review writers are. But we’ll keep watching for feedback and listen to all reports closely.

compudude

I agree Amazon reviews are important, but since many (if not most) people want to view their video from a smartphone or tablet, you should read the reviews of the actual mobile app, at the app stores, as well. You won’t get as much direct feedback if you use Amazon as your sole source of reviews.

Nest charges $10/mo ($120/yr) for cloud recording. Much of the competitors seem to change around $50-60/year. Double seems high to me. Especially given the reliability issues cited in so many user reviews (as opposed to those on professional review sites).

Sorry, my fingers got ahead of me. The iOS App Store, not Amazon. We look at wherever products are reviewed, although Amazon has mechanisms that make for more reliable reviews by individual users than the App Store.

“Much of the competitors seem to change around $50-60/year.” Some do, but we’re looking at the combination of a camera and apps you can trust with the cost of cloud storage. The two alternate picks both have lower and substantially lower cloud-storage pricing, although they don’t strictly store precisely the same things.

Phillip Ramirez

amazon reviews are tained. many times they arent real or paid for. it cannot be used as a valid source for reviews.

dz

I own both a dropcam pro and a nest, so I’ve been with them for a while. Since being acquired by nest the app has gone way, way downhill. Design aside, the biggest issue is repeated outages, sometimes lasting hours. Nest repeatedly tweets to its angry customers about how it’s looking into it and it won’t happen again, etc. Lies. In the span of a month I had at least 5 occasions where the service wasn’t reachable (and it wasn’t just me. Their Twitter is full of angry customers when it happens). That may not seem like a big deal for most, but to those of us using the cameras as baby monitors it’s unacceptable. There should at least be a way to stream on a local network.

I happily recommended dropcam to many people, but I can’t recommend nest until they get their server side act together.

josh

For a future update, it might be helpful to also evaluate the reliability of the cameras in terms of both how often they miss events and how often they crash and need to be rebooted. I have a couple of Dropcams and they are easy to set up and do have great image quality, but they frequently miss events, even when simply just pointing at a door. This can be a deal breaker for some applications.

There are other cameras (like the WiThings) that occasionally crash and need to be power cycled to bring them back online. This can also be a deal breaker for some applications, especially if you are depending on the camera to monitor a remote location like a vacation home.

Paresh

Everyone is doing indoor. How about outdoor camera review? Granted, there aren’t many outdoor models out there.

Jakewwa

These are fine for room monitoring, but I want to know what’s going on outside/outdoors of my home. If someone drives their car onto my driveway, I want their license plate. I also want something to monitor my mailbox for mail thieves.

compudude

I’m a fan of the HikVision DS-2CD2532F-IS.

Brian

Seconded. I’d love to see ratings on outdoor cams.

d quaid

The Samsung camera’s do offer the ability to record to local storage on top of the microSD card using RTSP H.264. Samsung just doesn’t document it very well since it’s not as user friendly. Look into Samsung’s NET-i ware NVR software and you can save the streams to a NAS (ex. Synology) or even straight to your own PC. Blue Iris software also supports the camera’s.

Even if a thief steals the microsd card you still have the local storage which can be backed up to the cloud. For even more security you could hook the storage/camera’s to a battery backup and then set an old phone hooked to the pc/nas to auto tether to LTE when it loses wifi to still backup the video feeds until either the thief disables the camera’s or finds the place you put your local storage box.

Mikado Cat

The worst camera on earth will tell me if someone is in a room vs the cat wandering around. What I wonder is if these or any other cameras make the next step, a positive ID of the person, worst case ID of a known person where looks like them is enough, best case evidence sufficient for police to use.

Another thing is how well do these cameras respond to a bright light, as in someone comes in, and shines a bright flashlight around the room and never on themselves will the camera still capture a decent image?

I’m looking forward to the budget review since I have been snooping ebay and less than $50 options.

Iconoclysm

Piper NV has “Pet at home” settings that don’t exactly work very well.

Faas

The Dropcam (now Nest) app had a step down after they were bought out. The app would allow you to have a good view of all your cameras set up. Now, the Nest app shows these small little circles that you have to click on to see what’s going on.

Dojomi

“We found that the Nest Cam is the best wireless IP camera for most people.” Maybe you meant “most rich people”…? The camera price is expensive but that at least makes sense. The locked in cloud subscription fee’s are outrageous, especially considering their competitors all give this for free. With no ability to connect to any normal IP software (like every other IP camera in existence), this camera is useless to me. If you want the plug and play cloud stuff but without having to pay hundreds per camera per year, the Arlo Q cameras should be coming soon.

Also looking forward to a budget IP camera review. I don’t need the accessories and all the fancy apps or services, nor do I need them looking like some trendy hipster accessory (*cough* Nest *cough*) with hidden costs. I am needing four IP cameras for proper coverage, some or all of them waterproof, so none of these options cut it for me. I already have monitoring software, accessible remotely, so a basic camera reachable by IP address is perfect.

vannm

I’d like to echo the sentiments of others here disappointed with the choice of the Nest Cam. Even in broad daylight, the motion blur and compression are so bad that I couldn’t even identify a friend 5 feet from it; their face is just a featureless blur. Forget about license plates. Useless for security, really. It also doesn’t support ONVIF, an open IP surveillance standard, so can’t be added to crime camera networks. In New Orleans, notably, ProjectNola (a non profit that distributes crime camersas), uses a Duhua 3MP. Maybe the next version of this guide should include a “nerd” pick that recommends actual security cameras and third party cloud hosting services

B Chet

One week ago I purchased a Nest Cam from a Verizon store.

B Chet

One week ago I purchased a Nest Cam from a Verizon store. I installed it in a new house about 90% completed. My bandwidth usage went from just about ZERO to 7.1gb in just a week!!! If you have unlimited data….great….then this is the cam for you. The resolution even at 720 is superior. In a week, I checked it 3X….BUT, If your usage is limited like mind….DONT BUY A NEST CAM!!! Mine is going back to Verizon on Monday

Yes, I too have been disappointed with NEST Cam. Not because of the quality, I have no complaints on that score. I am absolutely turned off by the subscription which is an all or nothing thing and is pricey at $30 per month – they have conveniently made it impossible to intercept the video stream on my own LAN for storage onto my NAS. I am actively looking at other cameras which allow memory card recording or to a NAS. NEST are shooting themselves in the foot.. metaphorically speaking of course.

True, this isn’t for everyone. However, I have to agree 100% with our guides recommendations – not because I work here, but because they are spot on.

For person that just wants an IP cam with no frustration & complications, the Nest is ideal. Setting up a NAS with an IP cam is more or less for the advanced person, not for say my non-tech savvy brother looking to add an extra layer of security to his home.

However, I personally did go the SD Card, standard IP cam route. It’s tricky, and the SD card does fill up. The motor is loud, the angles aren’t great, it’s bulky and super ugly, but it was cheaper and gets the job done. BUT, if I’m starting over next week for whatever reason, I’m going with the Nest – and recommending it to anyone on the market for an IP cam.

Snowharp

Fair enough. Just one last thing you may be interested in. A colleague just bought two Yi cameras and tells me they are good quality and they record to a memory card. They look very similar to nest cams so there is some copy cat stuff going on. Best of all there is no subscription to pay and the interface is a lot like nest. Maybe worth a look at less than $100.

I’ve had a YiCam for about 3 months, and it’s been great! Excellent quality video, and no fees whatsoever.

Minok1217

Would be interested in how the YiCam is addressed / secured. Given the very weak security around the cloud webcam market that lets people view cloud linked webcams they don’t even own or control, I’d want to know more first.

Minok1217

The sort of non-tech person that would benefit form this DropCam simlicity – this everyman person – would not use wirecutter. The audience this camera seeks to address isnt’ the audience you get (if I understand things well, which I could be wrong about your demographic). I’d expect more techy folks to be here reading – looking to avoid the same independent month long product comparison on a per user basis – and for those folks, setting up a NAS is not a stretch.

Yep! We aim to give advice that will benefit most people. We are by no means for specialists and connoisseurs only.

JRomeo

Please Please Please, do respond back and let me know if you find an IP camera alternative to Nest Cam which lets you save video to your NAS.

Alex G.

I use DLInk DSC-5010L recording to NAS (Qnap Survelance station) While all works fine, there is no convenient way to review footage on NAS, specially from mobile devices. This is why I have ordered Arlo Q Plus – it eliminates need for NAS by recording to microSD. Much better option in my opinion.

JRomeo

so how do you view the footage if its on a microSD when you are far away with nothing but your smartphone?

Alex G.

Usually there is an option to review the footage on microSD from your mobile app. Getting Q+ camera next week and will make sure it works as described. I used to have ZModo cam with microSD and it worked exactly like that.

Alex G.

I got ArloQ+ yesterday. It was disappointing to learn that not only can’t I view footage on microSD remotely or locally, inless I insert microSD card in a computer or other device, but camera doesn’t even do CVR on microSD. All it does is duplicating Alarm Clips that are on cloud to the microSD.

I’m at the point where I have several IP cameras and a few dropcam (now Nestcam) HD cameras and I’d like to start using Blue Iris software. Has anyone been able to get the IP feed to set that up so something like Blue Iris could monitor and trigger the notification images and alerts for movement? Is there another cloud based monitoring tool that could do the trick if not Blue Iris?

dkdonuts

Any estimated publish date for the new “local storage” IP camera guide, mentioned in the article and comments?

Malbec

Are you going to include D-Link DCS-2630L in the next update? It has a nice 180 degree angle HD and various advance futures. Although the app is not as good as I expected, but what app is good in these cameras?

Enrique García

Overall a very good article with some good choices. And thanks for pointing out the benefits of MFT as a system, like being a true compact body+lens solution, great options and low cost, cross-brand compatibility.
As you well stated, the smaller and lighter our gear is, the more likely we are to go out shooting with it.

yashrg

Still waiting for the recommendations of cameras with local storage and remote viewing options.

Alex G.

Arlo Q Plus

Rob Winchester

I feel like we definitely need an update here. Like many commenters, my deal-breaker on the NestCam is the subscription price. I know it’s their “razor blades”, but I am seriously considering the Arlo Q *just* because of that issue.

Minok1217

Indeed. I’m willing to pay for a good camera product that lets me store my video internally – camera direct to my LAN NAS. And outdoor cams that are properly built as commercial long use (decade+) quality – and that requires addressing internal moisture in some way.

Grant Clauser

An updated guide is almost at the finish line.

Rob Winchester

Thanks, glad to hear it. It’s funny: if the Nest had free 1 day storage, I would instantly buy one. Because they don’t, I won’t consider it.

Alex G.

Go with Arlo Q plus and you have local CVR + 7 days alert clips on cloud

angellllll

“It is also important to note that ArloQ+ is not compatible with SmartThings.”

Now that i’ve got a set of nestcams and other dvr cams Id’ really like a good cloud based monitoring service where I could tie in the livestream and send notification on custom triggers like motion at certain times and in certain regions of the footage. I seem to only see full recording 1 day or up to 30 day and cost is based on full time storage. I just want a nice interface and app to get the clips and fixed screenshots that show me someone is on property. I’d love if the monitoring platform could take the live nestcam feed and avoid my paying for storage if as I’d just wants clips and still images. Even better if I could tie this into smartthings. ok back to reality.

Minok1217

I’d like to see more consideration given to local (non-cloud) storage capabilities – such as cameras also being able to capture to a local (LAN) NAS.

The Dropcam is easy to set up – but the longevity of the sensors is in quesiton (mine has the color quality dropping a big and the auto-switch to night mode and back to day has failed on one of my two).

The dropcamp outdoor looks interesting but still needs a power cord of curse, but this doesn’t go in via the mount puck – so its not clear the outdoor mounting is very secure – stealing the cam seems simple enough to do.

Dusty McDust

Yeah. I wasn’t impressed. I went with Amcrest 1080p cameras and set up my own storage and remote access without dealing with subscriptions or the fact that images from inside my home weren’t in someone else’s keeping.

With the pending release of the Nest outdoor camera, I’d love to see a review of outdoor, weatherproof cameras. I’m doing research on them now, and there are a ton of them, and most, due to the software, are not great.

Mailman99

After a long research and having tried some, I settled on a Logi Circle cam. No subscription fees, it record automatically clips with motion and stores then on the server for a day or two, a 30 second “fast forward” survey of the day, push notifications, and very dependable.

Logitech Circle Safe, the subscription for Logi Circle is out. Looking forward to the review on it!

tiredSFer

One featured not mentioned about the Arlo is the ethernet connected version. Rather than rely on wireless, with the Arlo Q plus, you can actually plug it in, and not have your recordings be subject to a wifi signal loss.

Robert Jensen

If you want to go really cheap, as in free, and happen to have an old phone or tablet lying around the house and not getting much use, then free app Alfred (Android, IOS) can turn it into a useful security cam. Things I liked about it

1: use front or rear facing camera
2: email alerts when it detects motion
3: adjustable sensitivity
4: recording is free
5: web page to monitor using PC or Mac
6: did I mention, its FREE?

When I leave the house I just plug in a few of my ancient tablets I don’t use anymore, arrange them around the house, and off I go with a little peace of mind that my Fantastic Four/Galactus plastic drinking glass I got at 7 Eleven back in 1977 will be safe and waiting for my return.

mrbofus

What about the Piper NV?

Iconoclysm

My Piper NV does have push notifications, has voice phone call notifications, text notifications, etc. After doing my own research, it seems to be the best on the market if you want to fully replace a home security system without a subscription. Door and window sensors are available.

mrbofus

That’s what I was thinking too; it’s particularly odd, given that the date for this article is September 23, 2016 and the Piper NV has been out for almost 2 years now, right?

Paresh

Having tested many home cameras I find Dropcop to be easiest to setup and use. It is pricey but that is the cost of easy of use I guess. I was hoping that after Nest/Google purchase they would move to Google Cloud (last I heard they used AWS) and lower the monthly fee. Or at least count the space I already pay for Google Drive.

They finally released outdoor camera which looks good so far. Still using it. I removed Stick cam from Ring.

The main Arlo, due to its weatherproof design, is being reviewed now for our outdoor Wi-Fi camera guide.

Peter Tirrell

Any suggestions for something like the Blink but that stores to local SD? I’m looking for a standalone battery powered device with local storage. I don’t need constant monitoring for all time, but want to place a camera in a specific location to capture an event that keeps happening.

We are looking into this right now and hope to have this guide and others updated with more information soon. For the time being, this Krebs post (which you may have already looked through seeing as you linked to Krebs above) has good information and a list of the devices being targeted by the mirai malware.

Dignan17

This article is definitely confused about the history of Arlo. It makes it sound like the Arlo Q is the original, and there’s this new wireless/battery-powered Arlo Pro coming soon. This misses the original Arlo, which was battery powered and wireless and has been around for a while.

I completely disagree that the Logitech’s battery makes it easier to place than other cameras. The battery gives it a very short-term, temporary placement capability. For the majority of the time the camera has to live on its dock, effectively meaning it has exactly the same limitations the other cameras do. It’s just a nice feature to be able to occasionally put it somewhere else.

This bothers me specifically because of the Arlo omission. The Arlo is a truly wireless camera with a battery that will last months under the right circumstances. The fact that it was omitted from this roundup is fairly odd. I don’t even have one so it’s not like I’m biased due to ownership.

The Logitech would seem to win in price, but the Arlo bests it in features.

Grant Clauser

The main Arlo, due to it’s weatherproof design, is being reviewed now for our outdoor Wi-Fi camera guide.

Dignan17

So you can’t put it in two guides? Seems like an arbitrary reason to not include it in this review. Given the wording of the review, it sounds like the reviewer just didn’t know about the original Arlo.

Jack D. Lail

The link to the Netgear model goes to a hard wired only model?

Grant Clauser

“Wired” in this case, means plugged into an electrical outlet. It still it wireless because it uses a Wi-Fi connection to your network. Arlo also makes a more expensive version Q Plus version which uses a wired PoE connection to your network.

GianLaz

There aren’t any kind of curved monitor in the review. Is there any great curved monitor to add to the competition?

Sahib

It is been observed that installing a smart security camera is the need of today. As the protection is the need of today. So, GizmoSmart is one of the innovation in wifi home security camera. It is one of the easy to use and beautifully designed home compatible device. When you have GizmoSmart you can have full fledged security of the people you love.

It helps you to stay connected with your home 24*7 with real time HD video. Also, sends you an e-mail alerts when suspicious motion and audio is being detected. This wireless camera would always protect your loved ones when you are away from home.

Any recommendation for multiple sites? I would like to have a simple camera in 15 IT rooms for my company (15 sites) and be able to see them all on one page if possible. i know nest is limited to 2 “homes”, so would rather not have 7-8 homes setup.

Fake Coffee Snob

Does the logi circle provide alerts for audio monitoring even when the video monitoring isn’t tripped? Is audio included in the recorded video? For me, monitoring dog barking is even more important than monitoring motion.

Alex

I WISH I HAD READ YOUR REVIEW before buying the Piper ! It’s OK but not good value with little features ! I’ve also bought for the Garage a GUARDZILLA have you reviewed this ??

Alex

I’m looking for a Security camera that will activate on motion senor for the Inside of car ?? Any Idea’s Thanks

Mike

How do the SimpliSafe cameras compare to your top picks? I have the SimpliSafe Home Security System so trying to decide which camera I should get. Thanks!

Lucas J. Walker

Did anyone ever hear of the izoncam.com? I had an older izon camera and gave it to a friend but now I’m looking to buy a new one.

Internal_Maze

I’m hoping the fine people at The Wirecutter are working hard on researching a guide for “Best Outdoor Home Security Camera”. Looking forward to it!

RecalcitrantOne

As am I! I’m looking to add outdoor cameras.

wesmaniam

I tried the Arlo Pro cameras for the last week. They are beyond terrible. They can’t maintain connectivity under any circumstances for more than a day or so. Once they are offline you have to physically take the camera to the base station to get them to reconnect. They will never reconnect remotely or on their own so I can’t imagine a use for them. I am returning them.

wesmaniam

12 hours with the Logi Circle and so far it is better in nearly every way than the arlo.

I had a similar experience with my kit (1 camera + base). Camera kept going offline and I had to do the re-paring process each time.

It worked fine for half-an-hour but afterwards…you couldn’t count on it being accessible. I decided to return it since I couldn’t reliably count on it.

Btw their chat support is great…but good luck trying to get someone on the phone. Both times 30+ minutes before I could speak with someone.

Ian Cruickshanks

Exact same experience for me. I bought the Arlo Pro 4 pack. Two of the cams will sync and STAY synced. The other 2 constantly experience connectivity issues. I even went ahead and purchased one more single Alro Pro camera on Amazon, expecting it to work. nope! This product seems to be junk. Returning to Best Buy next week,

Rob Kellington

What about an Outdoor camera?

ronbrinkmann

I wish you guys would do a comparison matrix (or publish the one that you likely created) for these cameras. Among other things I’m trying to figure out which ones allow for continuous recording recording to the cloud (which I have with my Dropcam and find VERY useful. Only recording when there’s a motion alert isn’t the same thing and I’d like to know which camera offers this.) There’s tons of other feature comparisons that I’d love to see too. I know that’s not really the wirecutter way – you pick a ‘best’ and a couple of runners-up. But obviously different people will have different needs and since you’ve spent so much time amassing expertise in a particular area it seems like sharing all the data you create during the writing of the review would be really worthwhile.

I purchased Arlo Pro a few days ago and WHAT a pain. I’ve had nothing but syncing issues. Think I’m gonna return it in a couple days…but…but…what’s the next best option?!!

Tiff C

I’m just gona ask … i’m getting flustered trying to pick a kit..i had a retailer tell me the netgear arlo ..till i heard the cost too much for me.. and reading what ya’ll have to say and well it really don’t sound like its all that.. so that leaves w/ logitech correct ? but the cost ? i do have pets, it;s not that important for me to talk to them, would be nice if i were away maybe but not a daily thing.. so i guess i’m looking for cameras that’s watching my gate, door, shed and a motion censor cam that i can trust to come on when i leave or easly turned on by app if i forget.. thats not telling me my dog just went out to pee and has come back in to sleep ..i want something reliable, inexpencive , has live view: if i choose ,a sd card & cloud oh and the big thing: that’s not gona eat my little 10gs/mo i get 4 wifi becuz of where i choose to live…[mid nowhere] also that’s fairly easy to set up and monitor from my devices. please help ..i need suggestions ????? thank u !! as for facial recognition…yea ah NO.. after me getting broke into a couple months ago by so called.. FRIENDS ..WOW… yea i think i’d much rather get notified then some jerk being.. well. i’ll watch my mouth..so no on the facial.. am i going to have 2 piece this kit together with different apps and cameras or can i find a reasonable kit already put together ? i’v been on ebay i see the nite vision wifi hd .. just WHAT ami looking for and need that i;m NOT wasting what little money id o have ??? PLEASE HELP ????

ronbrinkmann

Anybody tried out the YI cameras? Price point ($35) is VERY compelling and they seem to be well-reviewed…

Alan Mai

I was about to ask the exact same question. It’s weird not finding any reference to them in this review. What con you say about them TheWireCutter?! 🙂

freezepaint

I went ahead and bought one because, well, it’s cheap :). Just showed up a couple of days ago and I’ve only had a few minutes with it but so far looks pretty promising. The app is even pretty decent. Will try to post more once I have time to check it out a little further.

Alan Mai

Great! Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thks!

smallville

I read reviews where folks said that after 2 months of use, a pop-up came up requiring consent to their privacy terms — which included the right for the company to view and keep up to 6 seconds of video. Those who refused to agree, can not longer use their camera. Something to think about….

S. B.

Which vendor / model, specifically?

JP3

Since the YI Cameras are cheap and well reviewed, I bought the YI Dome 1080p & YI 1080p Home Camera test out. Overall, I am very impressed. My basis of comparison are my mix of cameras from Foscam, D-Link & Samsung.

SETUP:
I have nearly every type of Foscam made & I am tired of the spotty connections/disconnections when trying to view the cameras remotely. The Foscam setup is not difficult if you know how to setup port forwarding, etc… but it’s just a hassle. The YI camera was extremely simple to setup. You just hold your phone in front of the camera. That’s it, no port forwarding or anything.

IMAGE QUALITY:
Very good. Similar to my 1080p Samsung.

SOUND:
Far superior to Foscams. In situations where I can’t understand the audio from my Foscam, I can hear the audio from YI without a problem. Yi also has a “Hand-free” setting where you can talk & listen at the same time.
– Also, Foscam Cloud doesn’t record audio, but YI Cloud does.

ADD’L:
– I got the “YI 1080p Home” & not the “YI 1080p Home 2” because, the non-2 version’s camera pops out and fits into the Nest/Dropcam cases I bought. (I needed a piece of tape to hold the YI in one of the cases.)
– The YI app & desktop application are very simple. I haven’t seen any ability to view the camera via web browser.
– I haven’t tried to connect the YI cameras to Blue Iris yet.
– I haven’t seen an option to imprint the timestamp in the videos.
– I would like to see an outdoor YI & YI with optical zoom.
– D-links are just terrible cameras & all 4 of my D-links are offline more than online.
– I have 1 Samsung, which is a good all-around camera, but they are expensive & I don’t yet see an important functional difference between the Samsung & YI cams.

We just bought one. LOVE it. It was under $40 as you note (we went with the 720, not the 1080). We chose the lower resolution based on price ($30 less) but more importantly, storage. the 720 uses half the storage. I bought a 64gb SD card. With 32 they report 8 days of video storage. I assume 64gb will give us 16 days. (More than we need).

Very smart camera.. motion detection and reporting is included. Doesn’t have geofencing which would be cool, but for $40 I can’t complain. SD resolution is great for our house and night vision works well. Also like the intercom function (so we can talk to our kids or anyone else). Very happy overall.

freezepaint

Yeah, these Yi cameras should ABSOLUTELY be reviewed when this guide is updated. For less than $40 you get a very good camera that feels like it’s basically the same hardware as the Nest (I’ve got both, the form-factor is identical) but it also includes a micro-SD slot. So you just stick a big memory card in there (cheap these days) and you not only have a local recording of everything, you can also use the app (even if you don’t subscribe to their cloud backup) to see whatever history is on the card. Which is, depending on card size and quality settings, many days-worth of video. (And the video is stored in very standard .mp4 format).

Subscribing to their monthly service (which I haven’t tried yet) also gets you some machine-vision stuff too.

I haven’t had time to really test long-term reliability so it would be great if others could weigh in.

Dario Andreani

I have a YI Home Camera 2 (1080p) and it’s working 24/7 since more than 6 months. Very stable and reliable, it streams live to an old tablet virtually 24/7 with no interruptions. A cool feature is that it can stream simultaneously to multiple devices (tested with 3) so I can have my tablet showing the live stream while I check some older SD card footage from my mobile or PC.
It looks very warm to the touch, but it has been working flawlessly this summer with room temperatures up to 32°C. Under the plastic cover it does have a sturdy metal body.
Maybe because of the high temperature it is working at, the first SD card I used stopped working in less than 2 months. I then switched it with a 32 Gb Samsung EVO Plus which has been working fine for almost 5 months.

Mark

I found on Amazon that The Logi Circle operating temperature range goes from 0° to 40° Celsius or 32° to 104° Fahrenheit, even though it is technically possible to use the Logi Circle camera outdoors we advise you not to do it, this camera is not water or dust resistant and the warranty does not cover this type of damage. This is a concern because I’d like to use it in my barn to monitor pregnant goats and sheep. It gets as cold as 20 degrees Fahrenheit in there and can get a bit dusty on occasion (but I could remove it at such times). Any suggestions about a camera with more operating temperature cold range?

– The Nest outdoor camera can operate at -4 to 104°F (-20 to 40°C) but is not battery powered.
-The battery powered Arlo Pro camera that can operate at -4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 to 45 degrees Celsius).
-The Canary Flex camera that can operate at -4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 to 40 degrees Celsius)

If you need a battery powered solution, keep in mind that low extreme temperatures may affect the batteries adversely.

Also if you want to do a lot of live streaming, I wouldn’t suggest the battery powered ones; they’re designed mainly to do motion capturing more than live viewing.

Bacchus41

I would like someone’s opinion. I have used Foscam cameras and they, in my opinion, are junk. They work great until they don’t and I am 1300 miles away and can’t do anything about them. The failures have been wifi cards and system cards even though each is plugged into a surge protector. So, I need reliable wifi cameras that I can access from my android phone and my Windows desktop (for larger detailed views) and without necessary subscriptions to anything. Ideas please?

Roy Frederick

In the February 2017 issue of Consumer Reports the Vizio P65-C1 is rated at the bottom of the list of the 60″ and above TV’s. They don’t even recommend that consumers purchase this TV. So what’s the scoop here? I’m sure that CR and The Wirecutter Test TV’s with some pretty expensive test equipment. But eventually it comes down to the subjective interpretation. How can one review organization rate the Vizio at the top and the other rate it on the bottom. What’ wrong with this picture?

In the past Vizio reliability has not been very good. As noted by the review below it is basically a through away TV if it fails.

bswigart

Was anyone able to discern which of these cameras or others have local cloud storage, meaning they can be set to record to a local networked hard drive instead of paying for subscriptions of cloud plans?

Most of the plans I’ve seen come with restrictions of days of storage, limits on storage etc. I’d like to get away from those.

Alex G.

I ordered Alro Q Plus 1080P.
It has CVR to local microSD + 7 days of alert clips on the cloud for free. Comes with optional POE, compatible with SmartThings and IFTTT (per my chat with NetGear Arlo support).
Taking all that in consideration – sounds like a winner in my book!

I want to buy wi-fi security cameras for my business. From last 1 year I am totally confused which one is best for me. but then i reviewed your reviews. And then your reviews clear my doubts. Thanks for sharing these Reviews. https://goo.gl/AvntKj

Phillip Ramirez

wonder why my posts were deleted. . paid adverts and calling em out doesnt sit well with the page?

Phillip Ramirez

ok see this has been updated. and the article stil only includes cams that have cloud storage and requires a constant internet connection. when will this site stop reviewing this stuff? now wonder when my comment gets removed

Allen Watts

Thanks for the great review. Do you have any thoughts on the complaints about Logi Circle disconnecting frequently? That seems to be a common refrain on Amazon. Also, someone noted that the Circle can chew up your bandwidth because it’s constantly sending video, even when you’re home. Is that true? Thanks

Mario Miniaci

Shame about the Logi Circle. It’s biggest flaw is that it depends exclusively on Logitech cloud. You cannot use your own NAS or cloud drive and if you want to save video you must connect daily. If you have unreliable internet or Logitech decide to stop supporting it, you’re high and dry.

Santiago Draco

Which is why I won’t be touching the pos. Not interested in jumping into another money grab subscription product.

Mario Miniaci

Just a little update – Logitech have enable the Circle and Circle 2 for Google Home/Alexa integration. It’s not NAS-enabled yet but it’s nice to see some love for it. TL;DR – you can tell Google Home to show ‘Kitchen Camera’ or whatever on your chromecast.

M_O_T_U

Funny, all the “top” picks get a LOT of negative reviews on amazon.

Santiago Draco

That’s what happens when a site cares more about affiliate links that actual reviews. Shoddy journalism is the name of the game lately. Just look at what has happened to Toms Hardware.

Jay Haider

The Circle should not be recommended until Logitech fixes a glaring security flaw on their back end: they have a unified account for all their devices, so a Harmony remote and Circle are required use the same login and password.

I discovered this flaw when I tried to install a new pre-pro. My old Harmony password stopped working, so I reset it. Then my Circle app login stopped working. So I reset it. Then I tried to tweak the Harmony control, and my password stopped working. So I reset it…

Logitech needs to, ahem, build a wall between accounts for their entertainment products and accounts for their security products for the latter to be useful options.

joem789

The biggest problem with “reviews” is the lack of time tested data. Anyone can buy a piece of junk Made in China and see it work wonderfully for a few days. Then a month later, it breaks, never works again. And you’re out $$$. And we all should know by now that China is charging “quality” prices on the same ole junk. They make stuff look good. But its all just still pure garbage on the inside.

ghanderman

well china is only the manufacturing end. its stateside companies that are outsourcing and who are exploiting local chinese labor laws in order to increase profit margin by radically decreasing wages, as well as using cheaper materials. china has no real internal resources to speak of, hence its trade agreements with canada: canada provides resources for chinese use, china provides shitty workmanship for cdn and american use.

Looks like the price recently dropped pretty significantly. I wonder if there is a new model coming out soon?

Lauren

I’d love to see Oco 2 and the Ivideon companion app covered in a future review. I have used the Ivideon app with webcams and old cell phones as IP cams (works great until the batteries start swelling!), but I just recently purchased a few Oco 2 units. While I’ve been happy with them, I have a hard time finding information on the company and the safety and security of my data. You have to dig for a long while to unearth the fact that Ivideon is a Russian company, but I can’t decide if they are keeping that quiet to avoid stigma, or if they are keeping that quiet for a more nefarious reason.

Andrey Gabisov

Dear Lauren, my name is Andrey, I’m co-founder of Oco. Thank you for choosing our product. Oco is a US based company, our HQ is in Irvine, CA. We use Ivideon software to power our products, and we use Amazon and several other companies to store customer’s data in the US. We have 4 data centers in the US and a few in Europe. I understand your concerns regarding Ivideon’s origin, but please be sure it is a very reliable company. Among their clients are Philips, Samsung and many other global brands. Ivideon has successfully passed their security checks. At the same time all the data is encrypted using AES-256 standard (same standard is used by NSA for US Gov. top secret files). If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us at hi[at]getoco[dot]com

dfooter

Just in case anyone is considering the Netatmo Welcome despite the Wirecutter’s recommendation, I highly recommend you reconsider. While I do not own the Welcome, I do have the Presence, their outdoor model. It disconnected after working well for a week but I have not been able to get it working again. But customer service is terrible, they are delayed in responding, run a checklist of actions past you, none of which resolved the issue, then abandon you (it has been a week since I last heard from them). Caveat emptor.

P.S. – I have their entire suite of weather products, which have worked great, but because of this experience I am going to replace them when they die with other companies products.

Siddarth Sharma

Thanks for posting a good article. A great list of best home security cameras of 2017. However, I would like to add one company. GizmoSmart is one of the innovation in home security camera system. It is one of the easy to use and beautifully designed home compatible device. When you have GizmoSmart you can have full fledged security of the people you love. Advanced security systems of today, equipped with motion detectors & other sensors are more effective at keeping intruders away http://gizmosmart.com/mini-home-security-system/

Hubert

I’m looking at these cameras for use as a baby monitor. It sounds like these would be a good fit as low light features, motion detection, sound, etc. are all things these cameras do. Any recommendations?

Martin

i can attest to the need for better algorithms that don’t drive me crazy with random motion detections. tried using the Withings Home and couldn’t handle it after a while

Hubert

I’d love to see an addition about the arlo baby. It’s got pretty bad amazon reviews, but I’m hoping those could be fleshed out with software updates.

Karen Jennings

Nice article! Rooting for Arlo, Piper, or Canary. However, I’ve been hearing a lot of negative reviews about Arlo’s battery life. How are your arlos doing so far?

raydrnayshon

Logitech. Never again. Last system worked great. For one year. Crashed totally. Logitech support= oxymoron.

raydrnayshon

That is precisely the experience we had. Logitech? NEVER AGAIN.

Tardigrade

What if you own a NAS, and either don’t want to use the cloud, or want longer recording capability?Purchased a QNAP TS-451+ earlier last year. Looking to monitor my Grandmother’s home while she is away and I’m looking for a budget friendly option that ties into it if possible in the meantime.
Otherwise I might go with the Arlos at Costco.

ghanderman

i want something for my apartment because im pretty sure the landlord has been entering without permission when im away. i need to catch him in the act before i can do anything about it. also, i just think its a good idea to see whats happening in the place you sleep.

invisible21

I can’t believe this review is still “current”. I am looking at replacing my Nest Cam because I can’t handle the $100/year for what should be basic functionality, and luckily read through the Amazon reviews of the Logi Circle on Amazon. Wow, there are a large number of reviewers with major reliability issues which should be an immediate disqualification for a security camera. I can’t believe this thing is still the top review. Arlo Q seems to have much better aggregate reviews for reliability and features (and is also the #1 on Tom’s Hardware). I will definitely be going that route.

I have 3 Arlo Q Plus cameras, and have had nothing but problems. Connections drop randomly, recordings stop in the middle of movement, the video pixelates badly at around 12 seconds, live view doesn’t work consistently, motion sensitivity is very poor.
Netgear support has been useless in resolving these issues.
There have been two incidents that were caught on video. Both times critical details were missed by the camera not working properly or not recording ongoing activity.
If you need a security system, DO NOT buy these cameras. They are for novelty purposes only.

Riza F Khan

The Wyze Cam isn’t mentioned. It’s $25 and competes with majority of these.

We have a paragraph on Wyze Labs and the WyzeCam in our “What to look forward to” section.

cheaplikeafox

You only mentioned that they only have 12 second alerts. You didn’t mention that it also has a micro SD slot which can record weeks of video with a 64 gb card which is very useful for a home security device. It also has free 14 day cloud for notification alerts, 1080P wide angle, easy to set up, 2 way mic, and easily mountable since it’s magnetic. The main problem I’ve been having are connection issues.

Andy Simmons

Your update is… out of date. Canary does offer two-way communication, this was added in a software update several months ago.

Ron Lockhart

I’ve been using 4 Foscam 9821Ws for several years. While setup and firmware updates are not for the faint-of-heart, once set up, they’re reliable. I use DComplex software to monitor the cameras and then upload any movement via FTP to my website.

The biggest issue I’ve encountered is Foscam’s interface limitations. On a Mac, they support only Safari. While there is supposed to be a plug-in for Chrome, I’ve never been able to get it to work, and according to their customer support forum, thousand of others have had the same problem.

The other issue is that my ISP, Uverse, doesn’t support haripinning, so getting back to the cameras from inside the house is a bit of a challenge. I get around this by using a VPN service (which I use anyway for computer security) and can then access the cameras via their external address.

I’d be interested in replacing all of my cameras, but the cost of even the lowest priced cameras and their associated cost seems pretty steep to me. I actually have Nest thermostats and a Simplisafe security system, but adding those branded cameras to them is a very expensive proposition, and I’m not sure I see the advantage over what I have now.

If you have some technical ability, you can buy a much less expensive camera(s) and use 3rd party software to manage them. As I said earlier, I save my video to my own domain via FTP, and having your own website is far less expensive than a subscription service from any of the camera manufacturers.

Mqanduli_EC

This review needs to be updated. It really does undermine the integrity of the review that the WyzeCam gets such a cursory write-up when it is an extra-ordinarily cheap, yet high-quality video camera with free iCloud storage for 2 weeks and easy-to-use app, that costs a quarter (if you include postage) of your budget option! I would venture to say that once you review it, it will definitely trounce your budget pick, and probably your top pick too. I ordered 10 cameras after I read the NYT article, and have been totally blown away by what one gets for $20 (and about $5 postage)!! The Wirecutter’s biggest commodity is engendering the trust of your readers in your reviews. I love your site and appreciate the way you make my life easier and my choices simpler. But on this review, you fall short of your own standards.

We have been working on a full update to this guide for a while now—we hope to have the new version up soon! I’m sorry for any inconvenience in the meantime. We put a lot of time and care into our reviews, but that does mean we move slowly sometimes. I’m glad the WyzeCam has been working so well for you.

Mqanduli_EC

Thank you for the feedback, Janet. Understand that the Wirecutter team tries to do a thorough job and that it takes time to do a proper review. It’s just that I found the WyzeCam to be so good and so much cheaper than any of your options that I really felt your readers should know about it soon! Look forward to reading your updated review and hope that you will agree with my assessment of the camera.

ehagen

Janet, I’m researching these cameras as options for elder care. I know two cases where elderly women, living alone, fell, were unable to get up, and were only discovered more than 24 hours later. For this use, I think I would want to be notified if there was no movement in a specified time-frame, rather than if there was movement. It’s probably too late to include in your full update, but if you have any info on this use case, it would be great to know. I already read the wirecutter article on medical alert systems, which was very useful. I’m looking to create a multi-layer system using one of those, one or more security cameras, and perhaps an Echo or similar device.

Ron Lockhart

I notice that there was no mention of the cameras sold by SimpliSafe, a do-it-yourself security system. They were on sale over Christmas for $50, a 50% discount. I was impressed how they integrate with the SimpliSafe system. In particular, the privacy shield can be configured to be open only when the system is in Away mode. In addition, they are configurable to record when in Away mode only.

I found the pricing for cloud services a bit steep ($4.99 per camera per month) with 30-day storage. Another downside is that even if you can figure out the IP address of the camera(s), they cannot be handled via a 3rd-party application.

If the point of security cameras is to make your home safer, then these cameras should have definitely been a part of your analysis.

td99

I have a Simplisafe system, but not the cameras. Pretty happy with the EZViz cameras. See my other post above.

ehagen

I’m researching these cameras as options for elder care. I know two cases where elderly women, living alone, fell, were unable to get up, and were only discovered more than 24 hours later. For this use, I think I would want to be notified if there was no movement in a specified time-frame, rather than if there was movement. It’s probably too late to include in your full update, but if you have any info on this use case, it would be great to know. I already read the wirecutter article on medical alert systems, which was very useful. I’m looking to create a multi-layer system using one of those, one or more security cameras, and perhaps an Echo or similar device.

That’s an interesting use case. I’d even want to take it a step further to perhaps recognize a pattern of movement including trips to the kitchen and even night bathroom runs. Getting a notification when the pattern is broken or no movement at all and to perhaps use audio also and the lack of noise as a trigger. I was against a camera for elder monitoring initially but would certainly revisit if this utility was present. Please share if anyone has further thoughts or ideas.

td99

I have the EZViz Mini, four actually. Pretty happy with them. And despite the article saying the app interface shows 4 cameras at once, I’m not seeing that. I see one camera with the option to show 4. You can toggle between the views.

Also, cloud storage is optional, and I prefer to keep my recordings local. I simply installed at 16GB microSD card into each camera and now I have up to 3 weeks of motion-captured recordings at my disposal.

I bought every one of your picks (besides for the budget one, due to its sore lack of features) and tried them all.

The Logitech Logicircle and the Arlo Q (your top 2 picks) -which you supposedly partially chose due to their easier installation- actually gave me a really hard time installing. Both of these ultimately wouldn’t simply catch on to the wifi successfully.

While the Nest was very smooth and works great (as you accurately stated – best with a subscription, sucks without).

Since the Nest is so expensive, I knew I needed something else.
I read on one of the big tech blogs about this new company Wyze that introduced very cheap cameras with all the features in Nest et al.
So at such a cheap price, I bought a whole bunch and installed in several rooms.

I’m not gonna fool you, the resolution and quality is nothing like Nest, it’s way inferior. However, installation was a breeze (unlike your much much more expensive top picks), and it does the basic job. It is a work in progress and the folks at the company seem very interested in constantly improving the software and product and have helped me when I ran into some glitches.

It’s been a couple months already that I have them up, and I’m absolutely amazed at how cheap you can buy security cameras today to do a very basic job.

P.S. I have zero affiliation with aforementioned startup.

raydrnayshon

My experience is Logitech products break early and customer support is a bad joke.

I would just as soon hand the money to a homeless drunk as buy another product from them.

Home security camera system worked great for less than one year. Support was utterly non-responsive.

BDJ223

Really disappointed not to see a budget pick. Wanted to use this for a dog cam, and don’t need to spend more than $30

Me too! If you’re only interested in live viewing, the WyzeCam does have an impressive image and is within your price range. The recording capabilities just kept it from snagging a better spot on the list.

BDJ223

I was looking at Wyze yesterday, but it was out of stock on Amazon (now in stock). Any comment or thoughts on the bad security reviews it gets? Not that people in China seeing video of my dog would really be the worst thing. My fiance also like the Zmodo cam, any thoughts on that?

We sent the WyzeCam to Bill McKinley, executive director of Information Security at The New York Times (Wirecutter’s parent company) for hack testing. He said that the WyzeCam has the same hardware as Xiaofang cameras, which has some vulnerabilities. However, the Wyze Cam has a different firmware and it seems harder to break.

He also said, “I did see what the reports were discussing where it’s calling out to a few seemingly questionable IP addresses around the world. Turns out, those are all owned by ThroughTek who they’re doing their streaming through so there’s not much of a concern there.”

I looked at the Zmodo Pivot for this guide. but decided not to call it in based on quirky feedback on some of the features. However, I definitely want to get in one of their other products for the next update.

Henry Adams

I plan to use Wyze cam to monitor potential water leaks in the laundry room. All the downsides you have listed don’t really apply in that situation. Thanks for listing them so that readers can make an informed decision based on their own specific situation.

David G

How is this about the “best wireless” indoor cameras when the top picks are all corded??

By wireless, we mean that they operate over wi-fi, but they may still rely on a cord for power. We looked at some cordless options (Blink and the cordless version of the Logitech Circle 2), but both had some serious shortcormings resulting from having to constantly conserve battery power.

Just to chime in about the Logi Circle 2: it has been incredibly unreliable. 2 out of 3 firmware updates killed it dead, requiring hours of resetting and reconfiguring. The online service has had prolonged outages. Customer service is poor. And HomeKit setup must be done without powering down… yet requires a code printed impossibly small inside the camera, requiring power down and actual disassembly (not to mention a microscope) to obtain.

Incredibly user-unfriendly, and not to be counted on to work all the time.

Worst of all the Circle 2 NEVER TURNS OFF, it only pretends to! It is always powered on EVEN WHEN the app indicates Off and the indicator lights are off. How do I know? Because even then the camera is “off” I can STILL view the live image through HomeKit. in other words, turning the camera off simple instructs the Logi app to SAY its off and show no image, while turning off the power light. But the camera is still transmitting. Awful, deceptive privacy. I want a camera that truly powers off the sensor when it says so.

Just to confirm: Are you talking about the corded model or the cordless model? Honestly, I haven’t had any problems with the corded Circle 2… but had numerous problems with the cordless one. I will definitely check out what you said about HomeKit too. Thanks for mentioning that.

Yamanote

Lovin’ Nest products. Subscribe to the video storage for the short period, which is plenty. Don’t need 30 days. Very reliable, great video. I will be installing the new outdoor cam to replace my existing security system when its comes out later this year.

Mike Jones

The recommended pick (Logitech Circle 2) is hot garbage. I bought three explicitly based on the Wirecutter recommendation, then wasted 5 hours trying to get them connected. The app based setup process was able to connect either of the two units I tried with to my wireless network. I even went so far as to take my network apart and use a different router only to be met with the same result. There is no manual override to set things up manually, so if the app doesn’t work, you are hosed.